The analysis of the effects of geopolitic risks on demography by GIS; the case study of Kirkuk

As a result of globalization, international power wars do not only pose regional risks, but also create issues concerning the international community. Geopolitical science, which examines the relationship between political realities and space, is key to understanding all these problems and processes. The evaluation of the international relations lacking the thorough comprehension of the geographical elements could be considered an incomplete approach. The relationship between politics and space is established through maps, and the analyses are performed accordingly. Nowadays, the use of Geographical Information Systems (GIS), which provides advanced spatial analysis and visualization techniques, is becoming increasingly widespread in geopolitical science. Consequently, in this master thesis, the demographic effects of the geopolitical risks were emphasized and the population mobility in the geopolitical risk zones was analyzed and evaluated by using GIS and Remote Sensing (RS) capabilities. As a result of the analyses carried out by the means of an intelligent statistical method, the population of the study area, Kirkuk, which is considered a region of geopolitical risks, was determined for 1997 and 2011, and the population changes in the region was evaluated. Thus, the importance of GIS in geopolitical and social sciences as well as its contribution to these disciplines was explained.