Power Now Runs on Belief and the Fandoms That Sustain It
If global politics feels louder than it used to, that’s because it is. Not louder in substance, necessarily. Louder in tone. Louder in symbolism. Louder in performance. Foreign policy no longer arrives quietly in communiqués and briefing notes. It arrives as spectacle, designed to be felt before it’s understood.
Once you notice that shift, a lot of recent geopolitical behaviour starts to make sense.
[5 Min Read]
When Strategy Turns Theatrical
The Donroe Doctrine is usually framed as a modern reworking of the Monroe Doctrine. A warning shot across the Western Hemisphere. A declaration that the United States intends to reassert dominance and push back against rivals like China and Russia.
On paper, it’s familiar stuff. Spheres of influence, deterrence and power projection.
In public, it behaves very differently.
Under Donald Trump, policy doesn’t just get announced. It gets staged. Strength is not simply exercised; it’s demonstrated, repeated and ritualised. Doctrines arrive as moments of reassurance for supporters (fans) who want to see America “winning” again.
The success of the Donroe Doctrine isn’t judged only by what rivals do next. It’s judged by applause, repetition, and how effectively it energises the fans (voters, audience, stakeholders) it’s really aimed at.
When Politics Starts Acting Like Fandom
Fandom isn’t a casual interest. It’s allegiance, identity and participation in an ongoing story.
Trump’s relationship with his supporters (fans) has always worked this way. They don’t merely agree with his positions. They inhabit the narrative around them. Criticism becomes betrayal. Defence of the leader becomes defence of the self.
Seen through that lens, the Donroe Doctrine isn’t just policy. It’s canon. Another chapter in a broader story about reclaimed strength, humiliated rivals and defied elites.
Supporters behave exactly as fans do elsewhere.
They amplify simplified messages.
They defend aggressively when challenged.
They extend the story with their own language and symbols.
None of this appears in the doctrine itself. Yet it determines how the doctrine survives contact with reality.
This Pattern Is Global
What’s striking is how familiar this now looks beyond the United States.
In Russia, Vladimir Putin leans heavily on historical grievance and national destiny. Strength is framed as restoration. Doubt is recast as treachery. Loyalty matters more than outcomes.
In China, President Xi Jinping draws on a different register, but the mechanism is the same. National pride is tied to technological progress, cultural revival and resistance to Western pressure. External criticism doesn’t weaken belief; it hardens it.
Even the European Union has shifted. Support for Ukraine and renewed talk of sovereignty are framed less in balance-sheet terms and more around values, identity and what Europe “stands for”.
Different systems. Same logic, just spread across 27 member states (fan communities).
Where This Becomes Impossible to Ignore
Recent flashpoints make the pattern harder to dismiss.
In Venezuela, US intervention under the Donroe Doctrine has produced duelling narratives of liberation and imperialism. To supporters, the capture of Nicolás Maduro is framed as a heroic takedown of corruption. To opponents, it’s neo-colonial theft. Politics there now plays out as performance, with belief doing more work than institutions.
In Greenland, Trump’s renewed interest in annexation triggered something unexpected. A surge of independence sentiment. The response wasn’t transactional; it was identity-driven. “We want to be Greenlanders” proved more powerful than economic dependency or security guarantees.
In Iran, protests over economic collapse are framed by the regime as foreign meddling and by protesters as national reclamation. Competing fandoms now fight over the meaning of resilience, sovereignty and survival itself.
None of this looks accidental. And none of it is being driven by policy detail.
Different contexts. Same dynamic.
Belief first. Justification second.
Why Leaders Lean Into Belief
There’s a reason this keeps spreading.
Belief moves faster than consensus. Identity outlasts evidence. Stories travel where policy details cannot.
When a foreign policy position becomes part of who people think they are, it gains resilience. Costs are tolerated. Contradictions are absorbed. Failures are reinterpreted rather than rejected. This is genuine fandom !
In that sense, fandom becomes a political infrastructure. Informal. Emotional. Highly effective.
The Human Layer That Makes It Work
Most people don’t experience geopolitics as strategy. They experience it as meaning.
Who are we?
Who’s against us?
Are we strong or weak right now?
Doctrines that answer those questions clearly tend to stick, regardless of their technical merit. They behave less like instruction manuals and more like brands. Symbolic. Repetitive. Instantly recognisable.
The Donroe Doctrine works not only because of what it signals abroad, but because of how it makes supporters feel at home. At this point, the divide becomes clear.
Some leaders still analyse geopolitics through outcomes: elections, treaties, market reactions. Others are already reading belief itself: who is emotionally aligned, how committed they are and how durable that allegiance will be under pressure.
One group reacts when events happen. The other understands why they were inevitable.
Final Thought
The Donroe Doctrine isn’t just a foreign policy stance. It’s a belief system sustained by a community of fans, audience and onlookers - it isn’t an outlier !
Across the United States, Europe, Russia and China, and in flashpoints like Venezuela, Greenland and Iran, power is increasingly exercised the same way: belief first, justification second.
This is where fandom stops being a metaphor and becomes measurable.
Belief leaves signals.
Intensity varies.
Commitment can be observed.
Most institutions still wait for belief to show up in outcomes. By then, the signal has already passed.
Those who can read fandom properly won’t just react to geopolitical change; they’ll understand how power is being built before it hardens into action.
If you want to explore how AI-powered fandom intelligence can inform strategy, risk or long-range decision-making, request a FandomIQ briefing.