ABSTRACT
The introduction and the contributions from Roger Hayter provide a summary of the core purpose of this volume, being to describe the processes of transition in rural resource-dependent communities and regions, driven by industrial restructuring, government policy retrenchment, and the actions of communities themselves. The rich, theoretically informed, and highly contextually nuanced contributions from the international teams lead to a single overwhelming conclusion: that despite the speed and intensity of global forces, and the predominance of a market-oriented ideology that has governed the developed world for the past 30 years, history and geography still matter in the twenty-first century. While this will be great news to geography and history departments around the globe (and others employing political economy perspectives), the fact remains that rural communities themselves, and the governments charged with defending the broader public interest, are less aware of this impactful reality to the condition and viability of rural places.
