Analyser: Tina är tillbaka när USA är enda alternativet

"There is no alternative" (TINA) is a political slogan originally arguing that liberal capitalism is the only viable system. At the turn of the 21st century the TINA rhetoric became closely tied to neoliberalism, and its traits of liberalization and marketization. Politicians used it to justify policies of fiscal conservatism and austerity. The slogan is strongly associated with the policies and persona of Margaret Thatcher, the British prime minister and leader of the Conservative Party during the 1980s, and, as German: alternativlos, with Angela Merkel, a Chancellor of Germany (2005-2021). Researchers of populism generally agree that its growth since the 1990s is the result of political elites accepting certain concepts (like free market) as unalterable truths and the associated disappearance of the political discord (so-called post-politics). This created a virtual "party cartel", where the views of established parties did not differ on policies. Due to growing inequality, part of electorate found itself on the losing end of these policies, but the agency of voting became hollow, as no mainstream parties were able to challenge the consensus. As a result, the political doors swung wide open for the populist newcomers like the aptly named Alternative for Germany or Viktor Orbán's post-2016 version of Fidesz in Hungary.