Sachzwang

After "Angst", "Schadenfreude", "Blitzkrieg" and other wonderful word imports from the German language I believe this one represents a real enrichment to our current conversation: Compulsion to do something because of the way things are, or "Sachzwang".
Henry Paulson blackmailing Congress to give him 700 billion Dollars, no strings attached, would be such a time where he successfully argued "Sachzwaenge". (That's the plural and sounds actually even better :) )
Indeed, it is most often used in a political context, since politicians have this great ability to maneuver us into hopeless situations where they can plausibly argue that there is just one solution left: give them more money and/or more power !