George Friedman

George Friedman (born February 1, 1949) is a geopolitical forecaster and strategist on international affairs. He is the founder and chairman of Geopolitical Futures, a new online publication that analyzes and forecasts the course of global events. Prior to founding Geopolitical Futures, Friedman was chairman of Stratfor, the private intelligence publishing and consulting firm he founded in 1996. Friedman resigned from Stratfor in May 2015.

Prior to joining the private sector, Friedman regularly briefed senior commanders in the armed services as well as the Office of Net Assessments, SHAPE Technical Center, the U.S. Army War College, National Defense University and the RAND Corporation, on security and national defense matters.

Friedman pursued political philosophy with his early work focusing on Marxism, as well as international conflict, including examination of the U.S.-Soviet relationship from a military perspective. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, he studied potential for a U.S.-Japan conflict and co-authored The Coming War with Japan in 1991.

Friedman is a New York Times bestselling author via his most popular book, The Next 100 Years (2009). His 2015 book Flashpoints: The Emerging Crisis in Europe, forecasts the turmoil currently being seen in Europe stemming from economic, immigration and political issues. Other of Friedman’s books include The Next Decade, America’s Secret War, The Future of War and The Intelligence Edge. His books have been translated into over 20 languages.

Friedman is also a keynote speaker at conferences, corporate and industry-specific events.

In 1996, he founded Stratfor, a private intelligence and forecasting company, and served as the company's CEO and Chief Intelligence Officer. Stratfor's head office is in Austin, Texas. He retired from Stratfor in May 2015.

In 2015, he founded Geopolitical Futures, a subscription-based forecasting service which provides regular updates to regional geopolitical forecasts. Within Geopolitical Futures, Friedman produces the weekly feature, Geopolitical Pulse.

Friedman was born in Budapest, Hungary to Jewish parents who survived the Holocaust. His family fled Hungary when he was a child to escape the Communist regime, settling first in a camp for displaced persons in Austria and then immigrating to the United States, where he attended public schools in New York City, and was an early designer of computerized war games. Friedman describes his family’s story as “a very classic story of refugees making a new life in America." He received a B.A. at the City College of New York, where he majored in political science, and a Ph.D. in government at Cornell University.

Friedman is married to Meredith Friedman (née LeBard), has four children, and lives in Austin, Texas. She served as Vice president of Stratfor for international relations and communication, before helping to launch Geopolitical Futures. She also coauthored several publications, for example The Coming War with Japan.

• The Political Philosophy of the Frankfurt School (1981). Cornell University Press, ISBN 0-8014-1279-X.
• The Coming War With Japan, with Meredith LeBard (1991). St Martins Press. Reprint edition, 1992, ISBN 0-312-07677-0.
• The Future of War: Power, Technology and American World Dominance in the Twenty-First Century, with Meredith Friedman (1996). Crown Publishers, 1st edition, ISBN 0-517-70403-X. St. Martin's Griffin, 1998, ISBN 0-312-18100-0.
• The Intelligence Edge: How to Profit in the Information Age with Meredith Friedman, Colin Chapman and John Baker (1997). Crown, 1st edition, ISBN 0-609-60075-3.
• America's Secret War: Inside the Hidden Worldwide Struggle Between the United States and Its Enemies (2004). Doubleday, 1st edition, ISBN 0-385-51245-7. Broadway, reprint edition (2005). ISBN 0-7679-1785-5.
• The Next 100 Years: A Forecast for the 21st Century (2009). Doubleday, ISBN 0-385-51705-X.
• The Next Decade: What the World Will Look Like (2011). ISBN 0-385-53294-6.
• Flashpoints: The Emerging Crisis in Europe (2015). Doubleday, ISBN 0-385-53633-X.