There is no alternative
There is no alternative (shortened as TINA) was a slogan which Margaret Thatcher, the conservative British Prime Minister used often. In economics, politics, and political economy, it has come to mean that "there is no alternative" to economic liberalism, that free markets, free trade, and capitalist globalization are the best or only way for modern societies to develop.
The phrase may be traced to its emphatic use by nineteenth-century classical liberal thinker Herbert Spencer.[1]
Cabinet minister Norman St John-Stevas, one of the leading "wets" nicknamed Thatcher "Tina".
In the early nineties, Francis Fukuyama wrote a book named The End of History and the Last Man, which in a similar strain argued that liberal democracy had triumphed over communism and the historical struggle between political systems was over (though there could still be future events).
According to TINA, economic liberalism is the only valid remaining ideology.
However, many alternative proposals have been made, for example, the alternative proposed by Michael Shuman is known as Local ownership import substituting (shortened as LOIS)[2]
See also [edit]
- Economic system
- Privatization
- Pensée unique
- Thatcherism
- Washington Consensus
- There Is No Alternative: Why Margaret Thatcher Matters - biography of Margaret Thatcher.
- Too big to fail
References [edit]
External links [edit]
- Margaret Thatcher's key speeches containing the phrase "there is no alternative" or similar
- TINA vs. LOIS: the small-mart revolution for a summary of the alternative from the Autumn 2009 issue of Sockeye Magazine
