Without alternative

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There is no alternative to a political catchphrase meaning “no alternative solution, offering no other possibility, without an alternative ”. It was named the German Unword of the Year 2010 by the Society for the German Language . In the English-speaking world, the acronym "TINA" (acronym for English t here i s n o a lternative 'There is no alternative' ) is used accordingly.

TINA principle

Poster by Peter Bonitz for the state election in Thuringia in 1994 with the slogan There is no alternative

The political slogan "TINA principle" (also called "TINA argument" or "TINA syndrome") is known mostly polemical intent, a position which argues that it an on the market , and in particular the competitiveness oriented, Politics give no alternative . The term became popular in German around the mid-1980s.

The political slogan there is no alternative ("There is no alternative") was used repeatedly by the British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in the early days of her government to legitimize her economic and social policy (cf. Thatcherism ), which was achieved through the dismantling of the welfare state and liberal economic reforms with at the same time conservative ideas of society. According to the sociologist Helmut Dubiel, this formula sums up a technocratic worldview and tries to fend off social and ecological demands by pointing to a development path that must be followed. The popularity of this slogan for Thatcher's politics was shown, among other things, in the fact that Claire Berlinski chose this slogan as the title for the Thatcher biography she wrote. Tina was soon used as a nickname for Thatcher.

The globalization critic Susan George has the TINA principle the exclamation "TATA" ( There Are Thousands of Alternatives! , Dt. There are thousands alternatives! ) Opposed. After the World Social Forum in Porto Alegre at the latest , the TINA paradigm of the lack of alternatives was opposed to the statement “Another world is possible”.

The thesis of the philosopher Francis Fukuyama about the end of history , according to which the liberal, market-economy model can no longer expect any historical challenges, is viewed as a more scientifically demanding version of the TINA argument .

Unword of 2010

The German Chancellor Angela Merkel is known for using the catchphrase “no alternative”.

The choice for the unword refers to the more recent usage in Germany. The catchphrase “no alternative” was used in various contexts, particularly from 2009 by Angela Merkel and other members of the federal government . Several political decisions had been justified on this basis. The jury found:

“The word suggests, factually inappropriately, that there are no alternatives in a decision-making process from the outset and therefore no need for discussion and argumentation. Allegations of this kind were made too often in 2010 that they threaten to increase public disaffection with politics . "

- Quote from the jury's decision

Horst Dieter Schlosser went on to say that the term also justified the health reform , the Stuttgart 21 railway project and other political decisions, which was "the basta of the Merkel government". Likewise've Roland Koch with this term including the controversial expansion of Frankfurt Airport justified.

The naming of the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, founded in 2013, is a deliberate allusion and response to Merkel's use of the slogan “no alternative”, especially with regard to the so-called euro rescue .

See also

Web links

Wiktionary: no alternative  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ no alternative in duden.de; Retrieved December 3, 2011
  2. ↑ Language criticism - “No alternative” is the bad word of the year. Spiegel Online , January 18, 2011, accessed January 18, 2011
  3. ↑ “ No alternative” is the bad word of the year . ( Memento from January 20, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) tagesschau.de , January 18, 2011
  4. ^ "TINA principle" in the Google Books NGram Viewer. Retrieved July 27, 2020 .
  5. ↑ For example, Margaret Thatcher said at the Conservative Women's Conference on May 21, 1980: “We have to get our production and earnings in balance. There's no easy popularity in what we are proposing, but it is fundamentally sound. Yet I believe people accept there is no real alternative. " Quoted from: Antony Jay (Ed.): The Oxford Dictionary of Political Quotations . OUP, Oxford / New York 1996, p. 361.
  6. ↑ Helmut Dubiel: The hour of seducers . In: Die Zeit , No. 37/2002.
  7. ^ Claire Berlinski: There Is No Alternative: Why Margaret Thatcher Matters. New York 2010, ISBN 978-0-465-02027-0
  8. ↑ About all crowd around TINA . In: Die Zeit , No. 43/1981.
  9. ^ Susan George: Another World Is Possible. In: The Nation Magazine. February 18, 2002, accessed October 31, 2010 .
  10. ↑ Oliver Nachtwey: The globalized revolt. P. 9. In: Christine Buchholz et al .: Our world is not a commodity. Cologne 2002, pp. 1–10.
  11. ↑ Elmar Altvater : Globalized Neoliberalism . In: Christoph Butterwegge: Neoliberalism: Analyzes and Alternatives . VS Verlag, 2008, p. 58.
  12. ↑ Merkel defends bank expropriation law . N24 , February 18, 2009
  13. ↑ For Merkel there is no alternative to the Afghanistan mission . ( Memento from December 12, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Netzeitung , July 2, 2009
  14. ↑ Schäuble defends debt reduction as there is no alternative . Stern , July 7, 2010
  15. ↑ Brüderle sees no risk of inflation for the euro . Welt Online , November 28, 2010
  16. ↑ The homicide argument . Deutschlandradio Kultur , January 18, 2011
  17. ↑ Press release of the Unwort jury
  18. ↑ Spiegel Online , “No alternative” is the bad word of the year . January 18, 2011
  19. ^ Joachim Jahn: Founding party conference of the AFD - uprising against Merkel's "no alternative policy". In: Frankfurter Allgemeine , April 14, 2013.