Ilkka is a postdoc in political history with research interests in intellectual and conceptual history, political ideologies, the history of economic thought and policy as well as the history of working life and labour market relations. Ilkka’s dissertation examined the visions and debates on economic and industrial democracy in Finland and Sweden from the 1960s until the 1990s. The work was part of the research project “Nationalism and Democracy in the Welfare State”, led by Professor Pauli Kettunen.
Ilkka has spent a period as a visiting researcher at Södertörn University, Sweden, and presented at several international conferences. He has been active in the History of Concepts Group and the Concepta Summer School, Finnish and Nordic Labour History societies and the Finnish Association for Work Life Research. In May 2020, Ilkka will begin work as postdoc researcher at the Centre for Nordic Studies, University of Helsinki, within the project Neoliberalism in the Nordics
Key publications
Monographs and book chapters
The Contested Relationship of Democracy and the Economy. Debates on Economic and Industrial Democracy in Finland and Sweden, 1960s–1990s. Doctoral dissertation. University of Helsinki, Faculty of Social Sciences 2019.
Friberg, Anna & Kärrylä, Ilkka (2022), ”Ekonomisk demokrati”. In Hansson, Jonas & Savin, Kristiina (ed.), Svenska begreppshistorier: från antropocen till åsiktskorridor. Stockholm: Fri tanke, 51–61.
Outinen, Sami, Kärrylä, Ilkka & Granadino, Alan, ”From Democratic Socialism to Neoliberalisation: Political and Ideological Evolution of Nordic Social Democrats and Portuguese Socialists After the Economic Crisis of the 1970s.” In Granadino, Alan, Nygård, Stefan & Stadius, Peter (ed.), Rethinking European Social Democracy and Socialism: The History of the Centre-Left in Northern and Southern Europe in the Late 20th Century. London: Routledge, 29–47.
Articles in academic journals (peer-reviewed)
Kärrylä, Ilkka, “The Young Finns Party and the Plan for Neoliberal Retasking of the Welfare State in Post-Cold War Finland”. Contemporary European History 31 (E-pub ahead of print https://doi.org/10.1017/S0960777322000480.
Kärrylä, Ilkka (2022), ”Concepts, Beliefs and Their Constellations: A Proposal for Analytical Categories in the Study of Human Thought”. Contributions to the History of Concepts 17: 1, 62–83 https://doi.org/10.3167/choc.2022.170104.
A Cautionary Tale: Reception of the Swedish Wage-Earner Fund Debate in Finland Link
Kansallinen etu demokratian rajoituksena. Suomalaisten työnantajien retoriikka 1960- ja 1970-lukujen yritysdemokratiakeskustelussa. [National interest as a limit to democracy. The rhetoric of Finnish employers in the debate on enterprise democracy in the 1960s and 1970s.] Historiallinen aikakauskirja 4/2016, pp. 445–457.
Book chapters (peer-reviewed)
National Interest as a Limit to Democracy. The rhetoric of Finnish and Swedish employers in the debates on enterprise democracy during the 1960s and 1970s. In Kettunen, Pauli – Pellander, Saara – Tervonen, Miika (eds.): Nationalism and Democracy in the Welfare State. Edward Elgar, 2020 [Forthcoming].
Paikallinen sopiminen työntekijän osallistumisena? [Local bargaining as employee participation?] In Kettunen, Pauli (ed.): Työntekijän osallisuus [The inclusion and participation of employees]. Gaudeamus, Helsinki 2020 [Forthcoming].
Valtiollisesta historiasta historian poliittisuuteen: katsaus poliittisen historian opetuksen ja tutkimuksen lähestymistapoihin Helsingin yliopistossa 1946–2015. [From the history of the state to the politics of history: an overview of research and teaching of political history in the University of Helsinki 1946–2015]. In Aarninsalo, Lyydia – Leskelä, Ilari – Nurmilaukas, Sara (eds.): Tiedettä & kaljaa 1965–2015 Poliittisen historian opiskelijoiden 50 vuotta yhteistyötä, yhteisöllisyyttä ja aktivismia. [Political history students’ association 1965–2015] Poliittisen historian opiskelijat Polho ry, Helsinki 2015, pp. 38–47.
Articles in academic journals (non-peer-reviewed)
Mihin katosi vaatimus taloudellisesta demokratiasta? [What happened to the demand for economic democracy?] In Kärrylä, Ilkka – Pesonen, Pete – Rajavuori, Anna (eds.): Työväestö ja demokratia. Väki voimakas 32. [Working people and democracy. The 32nd yearbook of Finnish labour history] Työväen historian ja perinteen tutkimuksen seura, Helsinki 2019, pp. 299–338.
Edited volumes
Kärrylä, Ilkka – Pesonen, Pete – Rajavuori, Anna (eds.): Työväestö ja demokratia. Väki voimakas 32. [Working people and democracy. The 32nd yearbook of Finnish labour history] Työväen historian ja perinteen tutkimuksen seura, Helsinki 2019.
Hakoniemi, Elina – Kärrylä, Ilkka – Silvan, Kristiina – Taavetti, Riikka (eds.): Menneet tulevaisuudet. Ajankohta: Poliittisen historian vuosikirja 2018. [Past futures: Yearbook of political history 2018] Poliittinen historia, Helsingin ja Turun yliopistot 2018.
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