Borders and Boundaries Data

Throughout the world, states are increasingly building physical infrastructure to project control over their international borders. The Borders and Boundaries family of datasets document these trends. The Border Crossings of the World (BCW) data set tracks the physical infrastructure that states have built at points where highways cross international borders. The data set tags the presence of gates, official buildings, and split-lane inspections facilities. The international border walls data set documents and geolocates border walls and fences intended to block transnational flows of goods and people. Both types of infrastructure speak to a country’s overall “border orientation” or the extent to which it is committed to the spatial display of its capacity to control the terms of penetration of its national borders. The border orientation scores data set documents whether and where countries have adopted a permissive or controlling orientations based on these infrastructural data sources.