China, Western Art Museums, & Dissident Art Via Social Networks

Western art museums are increasingly assuming a political role on the international stage. An example of this is the controversy that arose between western art museums and the Chinese government over the arrest and detention of Ai Weiwei in 2011. This article interprets these controversies as reflective of an ongoing political discourse. This article seeks to inform this discourse from the perspective of the field of international relations, using contributions from political science to interpret situations over Chinese dissident art between western art institutions and the Chinese state, and generate descriptive and prescriptive suggestions for the future.