Greg Halseth is a Professor in the Geography Program at the University of Northern British Columbia, Canada, where he is also the Canada Research Chair in Rural and Small Town Studies and Co-Director of UNBC’s Community Development Institute. His research examines rural and small town community development, and local and regional strategies for coping with social and economic change.Laura Ryser is the Research Manager of the Rural and Small Town Studies Program at the University of Northern British Columbia, Canada. Her research interests include small town community change, institutional barriers to change, building resiliency to respond to restructuring trends, labour restructuring, and rural poverty.

• Part 1: Introduction 1. Introduction 2. Social Geography and Political Economy Part 2: Organizing Structures 3. The Capitalist Economy 4. Global Capitalist System 5. Resource Regions in the Global Capitalist Economy Part 3: Mobilizing through Institutions 6. Institutional Trends 7. Large Companies, Big Labour; Small Businesses, Employees 8. Senior Government 9. Place-Based Communities and Local Government 10. Civil Society 11. Individuals Part 4: Change, Power, and Conflict in Resource-Dependent Regions 12. A Political Economy of Power and Conflict 13. A Political Economy of Resource Town Transition 14. Development Embedded in Places