Art and Power in the International Arena: Treaties as Cultural Instruments Sandra Braman University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee braman@uwm.edu * www.uwm.edu/~braman Much of what has been important about the transition from an industrial society to an information society has not involved the appearance of qualitatively new social processes, phenomena, and events. Instead, previously invisible processes are becoming visible, appreciation of some processes considered relatively trivial earlier is increasing, and relationships among – and therefore the relative importance of – diverse processes are being rearranged. This is the case with the use of art in the exercise of political power. Analysis of the political uses and effects of art in the digital environment involves three distinct questions: What new manifestations of art as a political tool have been made possible as a result of the development of digital technologies? How does thinking about relationships between art and power in the 21 st century allow us to see interactions between political and artistic activities that have long been there but have not, to date, been the subject of analytical attention? And how does the exercise of geopolitical power vis a vis art, artists, and arts institutions affect the nature of the state itself? This brief essay provides an introduction to what transformations in the nature of power wrought by the use of digital technologies mean for our understanding of art, provides an overview of interactions between non-digital forms of art and politics that have appeared in the international arena over recent decades, and concludes with a look at important research questions facing those who are investigating macro-level effects of digital technologies on the nature of power and governance today. It builds upon work