From ‘one right way’ to ‘one ruinous way’? Discursive shifts in ‘There is no alternative’

Abstract

If decisions are made in democracies in open procedures, the rhetoric of There is no alternative (TINA) raises certain questions. Tracing back the idea of necessity to symptomatic discourses, this article analyzes TINA as a political strategy in contexts such as Thatcherism, Third Way politics, and European crisis management, and sheds light on the specific characteristics of politics in the name of TINA. The analysis identifies distinct models of 'one way' discourses, reflecting political cultures and institutional settings and providing discursive trajectories. We examine the motivation for invoking necessity to justify unpalatable and normatively intricate policy decisions, and understand TINA politics in its double effect: as facilitating certain policies yet obstructing democratic and deliberative procedures. This allows us to address the question of whether the politics of our time shows a disposition to TINA as a means of responding to the rise and fall of political steering optimism.

‘Going beyond the Troika’: Power and discourse in Portuguese austerity politics

“…As we see it, our findings are important as they testify to the decline in the transparency and openness of policy making, which are both fundamental dimensions of the quality of established democracies (Altman & Pérez Liñán ). The reforms implemented during the crisis were highly salient and should be at the centre of public debate and choice (Seville : 14). In our view, the apparent empowerment of finance ministers, relative to their peers, is also problematic.…”

“…Another common mode is the erroneous claims that there is no alternative (Seville ). Indeed, it must be noted that there is increasing public acceptance of the necessity to ‘tighten one's belt’ and that austerity is an appropriate, and even necessary, response to the sovereign debt crisis based on the prevalence of popular moralistic equivalences between public and private debt (Lazzarato ; Stanley ).…”

A Crise Do Trabalho Nos Discursos De Universidades Públicas Portuguesas

“…Esta retórica de que não há alternativa emerge conjuntamente com a crise do trabalho discutida anteriormente, as quais apontam para medidas políticas no sentido da flexibilização e adaptação da sociedade em geral às condicionantes econômicas, o que resultou na retirada de direitos sociais historicamente conquistados. No âmbito do discurso político estas medidas se justificam pela retórica que "não há alternativa" (There Is No Alternative -TINA), a qual é oriunda da concepção neoliberal de economia, caracterizada por uma ideologia de livre mercado baseada na liberdade individual e de Estado reduzido (Séville, 2017). É interessante notar que na definição dos rumos a seguir, em um trecho do Programa de Ação A, o reitor partilha um de seus princípios de vida pessoal que muito se adequa à retorica TINA: "não ter pressa, não perder tempo", a partir do qual enfatiza que "chegou o tempo de não perder tempo".…”

Beyond populism and institutionalism: Anti‐populism and the management of austerity in Spain

“…Furthermore, it also facilitated the non‐problematisation of the Spanish model of development presupposed in the discursive construction of this threat, as well as the austerity‐based recovery that in fact reproduced such model. In this manner, and in conjunction with other rhetorical strategies such as “there is no alternative” discourse (Séville, ), the depoliticizing economization of politics (Borriello, ), or an emergency rhetoric that, under the pressures from rising bond yields, made a virtue of haste (White, ), the Spanish elites sought to deny the political character of economic decision‐making and thus hid decisions of lasting consequence from public debate.…”