The Analysis of Geopolitics: Reconceptualizing International Borders through the Application of GIS

Abstract

"Over the past 15 years there has been a renewed attention to the role and impact of geography in the study of international relations. Much of this is related to the 'new geopolitics' which treats geography as an essential part of the context of possibilities and constraints that face foreign policy decision makers. Based on earlier work which conceptualized and described international borders, this study seeks to establish a major reconceptualization and revision of how borders may be seen and measured. The use of GIS (Geographic Information Systems) will permit a much fuller and clearer specification of borders by allowing us to talk about the specific qualities of borders in terms of opportunity and willingness: ease of interaction and salience, respectively. The reconceptualization will lead to the creation of a dataset which will permit us to go beyond simply observing the number of borders a state possesses, whether or not a border existed between two states, or the length of that border."