Drama As Diplomacy And Power In The Age Of Spectacle

By Dr. Isaac Newton

News Americas, NEW YORK, NY, Mon. Jan. 19, 2026: A single image can ignite a movement. A short video can topple governments. A carefully staged event can shift public opinion across continents before most of us even notice. Power is no longer only armies, laws, or treaties. Power is performed. Power is felt. In the age of spectacle, it is often orchestrated long before it is negotiated.

A US Air Force F22-Raptor takes off from José Aponte de la Torre Airport, formerly Roosevelt Roads Naval Station, in Ceiba, Puerto Rico, on January 4, 2026. US President Donald Trump threatened Sunday that Venezuela’s new leader will pay a “big price” if she does not cooperate with the United States, after US forces seized and jailed her former boss Nicolas Maduro. If interim president Delcy Rodriguez “doesn’t do what’s right, she is going to pay a very big price, probably bigger than Maduro,” Trump told The Atlantic in a telephone interview. (Photo by Miguel J. Rodriguez Carrillo / AFP via Getty Images)

For nations in Africa, Latin America, and the Caribbean, this is real. Public opinion can be moved, policies influenced, and leaders cornered without a single formal discussion. Chaos can be designed. Drama can be weaponized. Understanding the performance of power is as vital as understanding its rules.

Small nations face a particular challenge. They cannot always outshine great powers in spectacle, but they can choose when and how to respond. Silence becomes strategy. Timing becomes leverage. Coordination with neighbors, reliance on treaties, and measured messaging turn restraint into influence. Leaders who resist the urge to react to every viral moment transform composure into power.

Citizens face a similar battlefield. Every post, tweet, and trending video competes for attention. Separating what matters from what provokes is essential. Slow down. Question. Reflect. Think beyond the scroll. Democracy thrives not only on protest or outrage but on informed, grounded, and clear-minded participation.

Some nations are already showing the way. Barbados and Jamaica amplify their voices in climate negotiations by speaking together through CARICOM. Rwanda and Ghana use regional media and digital diplomacy to ensure their perspectives on trade and security are heard. Soon, ministries may deploy teams to monitor viral events, plan measured responses, and coordinate regional messaging. Citizens can join media literacy campaigns, fact-checking initiatives, and civic forums. Together, disciplined leadership and an informed public turn attention into real influence.

Seeing through the spectacle is itself a form of power. Small nations and engaged citizens who blend vigilance with restraint, insight with action, and principle with flexibility do more than survive. They shape the stage on which global drama unfolds. In a world where chaos is designed and drama is diplomacy, clarity, focus, and patience are the new instruments of influence.

Will you watch the spectacle unfold, or will you step onto the stage with eyes wide open and shape its story?

Editor’s Note: Dr. Isaac Newton is a strategist trained at Harvard, Princeton, and Columbia. He advises governments and international institutions on governance, transformation, and global justice, helping nations turn vision into lasting progress.