America's regime-change operations failed strategically not for lack of covert capability but for lack of narrative — the US toppled governments through special warfare yet never built a story that won domestic and international support; the thesis uses social movement theory on three cases (Iran 1953, Guatemala 1954, Nicaragua 1978-1990) to argue influence operations must pair a legitimate, credible rebel leader with relentless ideological framing that paints the targeted regime's conditions as unacceptable.

— In our words · Source: Changes in Latitudes, Changes in Attitudes: Narrating a Regime Change (Pattric R. Patterson and Matthew D. Ziobro)