Is There No Alternative? The Discursive Formation of Neoliberal Power

It is often stated in the literature that we are experiencing an age of neoliberal hegemony. Still, there are neither explanations for the rise of neoliberal power nor empirical data proving the alleged influence of economic rationales on our daily lives. Referring to Sheldon Wolin's understanding of post-modern power and using innovative text-mining tools, the article seeks to explain the phenomenon of neoliberal power. First, the relevance of political discourses for the formation of post-modern power and neoliberalism is explained. Second, an analytical strategy for investigating the rise of neoliberalism is presented. Third, we investigate so-called TINA (There Is No Alternative) rhetoric in the German political discourse between 1947 and 2012. The results of this analysis show that neoliberal rhetoric does indeed play a role in contemporary media coverage, but its influence cannot be described as hegemonic because there is a lot of critical meta discourse regarding the potential impact of neoliberalism on society.