Maltese and Irish Soil

Abstract

This chapter outlines the changing scenarios of the two small states under study. Malta and Ireland present interesting case studies on how Europeanization can be accommodated within existent territorial politics signaled by the distinctive features of smallness, islandness, and periphery. Primarily, the chapter has two major sections involving two parallel narratives elucidating the Maltese and Irish identities and the series of transformations they have gone through, particularly, over the last five decades. In particular, it tries to explore the narratives from the perspective of a contemporary state-society relationship. This is in line with the school of institutionalist thought, which, according to Schmidt (2006: 98), is characterized by its emphasis on the institutional terrain where political events occur and for the outcomes and effects they generate. The major aim is to lay out the political landscape where state and non-state actors are involved in the act of governance. Decoding the various elements that constitute the terrain through which political actions sprout and spread is the first step in understanding how and why interest groups in small island polities behave and act in specific ways. Furthermore, as Olsen (2002) maintains, the impact of the EU on territorial politics is classified as one of the many faces of Europeanization. The discussion in this chapter stimulates the presentation and analysis of primary data in the next three chapters generated through fieldwork in Valletta, Dublin and Brussels.