Performative consensus and the resilience of neutrality: explaining norm persistence under Europeanisation

This article examines why neutrality persists in Ireland and Malta despite deepening participation in the European Union’s evolving foreign and security framework. Under conditions of deepening European integration, rather than treating Europeanisation primarily as a process of institutional adaptation or policy convergence, it conceptualises it as a form of symbolic and cognitive accommodation through which EU member states reconcile supranational commitments with domestically embedded norms. Drawing on constructivist and cognitive approaches within Foreign Policy Analysis, the article argues that neutrality survives not because it remains strategically unchanged, but because its domestic legitimacy is continually reproduced and reaffirmed. Through a comparative analysis of Ireland and Malta, the study identifies two mutually reinforcing mechanisms: performative consensus, through which political elites repeatedly reaffirm neutrality while accommodating policy adaptation, and a nested elite–public feedback loop, through which elite discourse and public expectations reinforce one another over time. The findings demonstrate how nationally embedded norms can remain politically authoritative even as policy behaviour evolves, highlighting the importance of domestic cognitive processes in shaping the boundaries of European integration. More broadly, the article contributes to debates on Europeanisation, differentiated integration, and norm resilience by showing how symbolic continuity can coexist with substantive policy change.