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This special issue addresses some contemporary transformations of public action in Latin American contexts. Contrary to those who promote the exoticization of that zone, we argue that the challenge for analysis is to integrate its study into international debates in the sociology of public policies, and this in order to participate in global debates over the categories and concepts commonly used in this field of analysis. The introductory article synthesizes the state of multidisciplinary research (economics, public administration, sociology, political science, ethnography) on these issues in Latin America and underlines the growing interest amongst French-speaking political scientists to deal with these cases in a disciplinary logic, i.e. by going beyond that of area studies. By embracing exchange between analysis developed in Europe and Latin America, the special issue gathers together research on public action at the borders of the State in Latin American contexts. Its overall ambition is freshen up questions about differing forms of social intermediation within public action, policy feedbacks and the shifting relationships between markets and public institutions.