A. F. K. Organski

Who was A. F. K. Organski?

Abramo Fimo Kenneth Organski was Professor of Political Science at the University of Michigan, the founder of Power transition theory and a co-founder of Decision Insights, Inc. His pioneering work spanned several decades, and focused on specific aspects of world politics, including: political demography; political development; and grand strategy. He was the author of World Politics, The Stages of Political Development, The War Ledger, Birth, Death and Taxes, and The $36 Billion Bargain. Other publications are widely available in scholarly journals.

A.F.K. Organski was born in Rome, Italy. As a youth, he attended the Ginnasio Liceo Torquato Tasso. He went to the United States fleeing the anti-Jewish laws of the Benito Mussolini regime and later served with the American armed forces in the Pacific theater from 1943 to 1945. After World War II, he settled in New York City, where he became an American citizen in 1944 and earned his B.A., M.A., and Ph.D. degrees from New York University. In 1952 he started teaching at the Brooklyn College, moving in 1964 to the University of Michigan, where he became professor of political science and senior research scientist in the Institute for Social Research. He co-founded Decision Insights, a consulting firm focused on introducing scientific rigor to the execution of policy and decision making in government and business.