This book highlights the linkages between politics and governance and the arts. The essays in the volume show how visual and performative arts have challenged those in power – or conversely patronised by them – been used for propaganda, to stir up national fervour and found themselves at the receiving end of political censure. They focus on the tension and symbiosis between the politician and the artist foregrounding how they have always tried to influence, challenge and, in some cases, undermine one another.

This volume will serve as an indispensable source for researchers and academics in political science, the humanities and performing arts.