"Hold Me Now" is regarded by many fans as one of the high points of Contest history, recently being voted the third-best song in Eurovision history (behind "Waterloo" and "Nel blu dipinto di blu").

The case has been made that neutralisation is potentially attractive only to relatively minor states that by virtue of their strategic position or symbolic political value have become or threaten to become the focal points of contests for control or dominant influence between principal regional or global rivals.