There Is No Alternative: Why Margaret Thatcher Matters

There Is No Alternative: Why Margaret Thatcher Matters

First edition cover
Author	Claire Berlinski
Language	English
Subject	Margaret Thatcher, Politics, Economics, United Kingdom, Europe
Genre	Nonfiction
Publisher	Basic Books
Publication date	2008-09-29
Media type	Hardback
Pages	400 pages
ISBN	0-465-00231-5
OCLC	191926111
Dewey Decimal	941.085/8092 22
LC Class	DA589.7 .B47 2008

There Is No Alternative: Why Margaret Thatcher Matters is a 2008 biographical account of the premiership of Margaret Thatcher written by American author Claire Berlinski.

The title is a reference to Margaret Thatcher's fondness for the slogan "There is no alternative" which she used to describe her belief that despite capitalism's problems, "there is no alternative" to it as an economic system, and that economic liberalism must push back against anarchism, communism and socialism. The phrase became something of a rallying cry of arguments in favor of free markets, free trade, and capitalist globalization, with Thatcher and her followers believing that it is the only way which modern societies can advance themselves.

The primary focus of the biography is a favorable account of the Thatcher years, arguing that much like Thatcher's ideology, there was no alternative after the malaise of the 1970s but to embrace a leader like Thatcher. Berlinski argues that much of how the world is currently organized today is as a result of her, and because of this she matters to modern society even today.