About me
Dr Julia Bethwaite is Postdoctoral Researcher in International Relations. Her research interests consider power and the role of art in international relations and world politics, practices of cultural diplomacy and museum diplomacy, transnational cultural relations, international political economy of art, elite networks, global governance and interaction of state and non-state actors.
In her doctoral dissertation, which was publicly examined at Tampere University on Saturday 21 September 2024, she analysed forms of power in the transnational field of art by researching artistic sites, such as the Venice Biennale and fine art museums, and by focusing on 'Russian' actors. In her dissertation, she studied how the Russian state and elites accumulated power in and through the transnational field of art.
Besides her doctoral research, she has worked as Academic Coordinator of the Master’s Degree Programme in Leadership for Change at the Faculty of Management and Business, Tampere University (2017–2022).
Responsibilities
Postdoctoral Researcher in International Relations
Instructor of Bachelor's thesis seminar (Politics), September 2025–January 2026
Responsible Teacher of the course 'Power, politics and Russian art in transnational contexts', November–December 2025
Past responsibilities have included the roles of:
Responsible Teacher of the course 'Russia's cultural statecraft' at Tampere University spring 2023
Academic Coordinator of the Master’s Degree Programme in Leadership for Change at the Faculty of Management and Business, Tampere University, 2017–2022
Main positions of trust
Vice Chair of the Finnish Association for Russian and East European Studies (VIETS/FAREES)
Secretary of the Finnish East European and Central Asian Club (FinEECA)
Member of the International Committee, International Council for Central and East European Studies (ICCEES)
Research topics
Forms of power, art and the transnational field of art, transnational elite networks, cultural diplomacy, museum diplomacy, international and transnational cultural relations, art in international relations and world politics, art biennials, art museums, international political economy of art, Russia
Research fields
International relations, international political sociology, area studies
Research career
21.9.2024 Public examination of the doctoral dissertation ‘Forms of power in the transnational field of art: Exploring ‘Russian’ actors and artistic sites beyond Russia’s territorial borders’ at Tampere University.
2024 Grant researcher, finalising doctoral dissertation (Cultura Foundation)
2023 Grant researcher (1-year personal research grant from Kone Foundation)
‘Cultural Statecraft in International Relations: The Case of Russia’, funded by the Academy of Finland at Tampere University, Finland (2017–2020), Principal Investigator: Tuomas Forsberg. Participating as Doctoral Researcher 2017–2020.
‘Making Spaces of Justice Across the East-West Divide’, funded by the Kone Foundation (2016–2018), Principal Investigator: Anni Kangas. Participated as Doctoral Researcher 2016–2017.
‘The Finnish Centre of Excellence in Russian Studies – Choices of Russia Modernisation’, funded by the Academy of Finland (2012–2017). Participated as Research Assistant (2014–2015) and Doctoral Student (2015–2017) in the clusters ‘Foreign Policy’ and ‘Diversification of Economy’ 2014–2015.
Selected publications
Bethwaite, J. (2025). The Wanderers in Shanghai: Russian fine art and hegemonic meta-capital in world politics. Europe-Asia Studies, 77(1), 133–156. https://doi.org/10.1080/09668136.2024.2443441
Bethwaite, J. (2025) Taidepesua ja venäläistä kleptokratiaa taiteen kentällä. Alusta!. https://blogs.tuni.fi/alustalehti/2025/05/30/taidepesua-ja-venalaista-kleptokratiaa-taiteen-kentalla/ [Blog post]
Bethwaite, J. (2025). Vallan muodot ja venäläiset toimijat taiteen ylikansallisella kentällä. Idäntutkimus, 31(4), pp. 50–55. https://doi.org/10.33345/idantutkimus.148530 [Lectio praecursoria]
Bethwaite, J. (2024). Art, power and heteronomy in international relations. Vaikuttaja – The Influencer. https://blogs.tuni.fi/vaikuttaja/politics/art-power-and-heteronomy-in-international-relations/ [Blog post]
Bethwaite, J. (2024). Forms of power in the transnational field of art: Exploring ‘Russian’ actors and artistic sites beyond Russia’s territorial borders. [Doctoral dissertation, Tampere University]. PunaMusta Oy University Press. https://trepo.tuni.fi/handle/10024/159846
Bethwaite, J. (2022, November 25). Taidemuseot ja ilmastoaktivismi: Huomiopääomasta ympäristöpääomaksi. Politiikasta. https://politiikasta.fi/taidemuseot-ja-ilmastoaktivismi-huomiopaaomasta-ymparistopaaomaksi/ [Blog post]
Bethwaite, J. (2022). Fine arts and International Relations: Russian museum diplomacy. In T. Forsberg & S. Mäkinen (Eds.), Russia's cultural statecraft (pp. 50–74). Routledge.
Bethwaite, J. (2021, April 27). The Forum of Young Global Leaders and overlapping fields of power. The Global. https://www.graduateinstitute.ch/communications/news/forum-young-global-leaders-and-overlapping-fields-power [Blog post]
Bethwaite, J. (2018, February 9). The Alchemy of Davos. Vaikuttaja – The Influencer. https://vaikuttaja.uta.fi/the-alchemy-of-davos/ [Blog post]
Bethwaite, J. (2017, May 19). Exploring the politics of the Venice Biennale. Politiikasta. https://politiikasta.fi/en/exploring-the-politics-of-the-venice-biennale/ [Blog post]
Bethwaite, J. & Kangas, A. (2020). Paradoxes of the Biennale. OnCurating, 46, pp. 494–502. Available at https://www.on-curating.org/issue-46-reader/the-paradoxes-of-the-biennale.html
Bethwaite, J., & Kangas, A. (2019). Parties, pavilions and protests: The heteronomous world politics of the Russian Pavilion at the Venice Biennale. New Perspectives, 27(2), pp. 29–61. Available at https://perspectives.iir.cz/download/02-2019-3-julia-bethwaite-anni-kangas-parties-pavilions-and-protests-the-heteronomous-world-politics-of-the-russian-pavilion-at-the-venice-biennale/
Bethwaite, J., & Kangas, A. (2018). The scales, politics, and political economies of contemporary art biennials. Arts & International Affairs, 2(3), pp. 73–90. Available at https://theartsjournal.net/2018/02/07/the-scales-politics/
Kangas, A., & Bethwaite, J. (2019). Venäjän Venetsian-paviljongin paradoksaalinen valta. Idäntutkimus, 1, pp. 23–44. Available at https://journal.fi/idantutkimus/article/view/81964
Kangas, A., Kujala, J., Heikkinen, A., Lönnqvist, A., Laihonen, H., & Bethwaite, J. (Eds.). (2019). Leading change in a complex world: Transdisciplinary perspectives. Tampere University Press. Available at: http://urn.fi/URN:ISBN:978-952-03-0845-2