Jonathan Kolkey

Jonathan Martin Kolkey (b. June 29, 1949, Los Angeles, California) is an American historian.

Education and Ph.D.

Kolkey received his Ph.D. in History from UCLA (1979) under the auspices of Professors Robert Dallek, Richard Weiss, Robert Jervis, John S. Galbraith, and Bernard Brodie. Dr. Kolkey has taught at various American universities and colleges including, UCLA, Chapman University, Occidental College.

The New Right

In 1983, Kolkey published a revision of his UCLA doctoral dissertation, The New Right, 1960-1968: With Epilogue, 1969-1980, that includes InterViews of then former Republican Presidential candidate Barry Goldwater and then-Presidential-candidate Ronald Reagan – both leaders of the “New Right Movement”.

Germany on the March

After receiving his PhD, Kolkey began a research project aimed at discovering "exactly how and why at pivotal instances political leaders make the decision to involve their own nations in war". Believing that previous generalisations about the cause of wars were based on "a scandalous absence of data", he set about analysing the decision-making that preceded approximately 300 documented historical wars. A portion of Kolkey's case studies, relating to German militarism from the time of Napoleon to the Second World War, were published in his 1995 book Germany on the March: A Reinterpretation of War and Domestic Policies Over the Past Two Centuries.

Kolkey's main conclusion about these German wars was that "leaders ruthlessly pursued policies designed to maximize their own private political advantage ... [a]nd wars erupted periodically as an extension of the normal domestic political rivalries ever present in any society". He contrasted this view with the position of Karl von Clausewitz that wars represent a continuation of peacetime state policy. According to Kolkey, this ignores economic theory which shows that individual decisions are motivated fundamentally by self-interest. Thus national leaders pursue their own advancement rather than any consistent "state policy" formulated in the "national interest".

In the final paragraphs of the book, Kolkey suggested that a similar analysis might provide the key to explaining not just modern German wars but all wars throughout recorded history, and expressed a hope that war can be prevented once it is no longer regarded as a matter of national interest and "political leaders fear immediate overthrow at the hands of their own angry citizens for starting needless quarrels". Kolkey intended to compile a multi-volume work demonstrating "the centrality of domestic political pressures fueling wars" for all of the "300-odd" cases in his data set.

Works

• Jonathan M. Kolkey, The New Right, 1960-1968: With Epilogue, 1969-1980. University Press of America. 1983.
• Jonathan M. Kolkey, Germany on the March. University Press Of America. 1995.

Television and Radio Appearances

• Ray Briem Radio Show, KABC/AM, Los Angeles (1983)
• National Public Radio - "Morning Edition" (1983)
• Hot Seat - four guest appearances (1985)