It’s the Geography, Stupid! An Introduction to Geographical Information Systems in Political Science

Abstract

Much research in political science examines either countries or individuals. However, technological advances in geographic information systems (GIS) software and the ubiquity of geo-coded data in recent years have opened up the possibil- ity of political science research that is attentive to (1) spatial aspects of political phenomena and (2) potential biases resulting from the dominance of country- and individual-based analysis in the discipline. In this article, I first present GIS and its possibilities for researchers (including existing, user-friendly GIS databases), and then show how GIS and spatial data have been used to examine the effects of artificial borders in Africa on civil war and development. Finally, I will offer my thoughts on how GIS can move forward political science in each of the traditional subfields of comparative politics, international relations and public administration.