In this new and updated edition, the authors once again examine policy making in one of the most significant areas of activity in the Canadian economy – natural resources and the environment – and discuss the evolution of resource policies from the early era of exploitation to the present era of resource and environmental management.

Using an integrated political economy and policy perspective, the book provides an analytic framework from which the foundation of ideological perspectives, administrative structures, and substantive issues are explored. Departing from traditional approaches that emphasize a single discipline or perspective, it offers an interdisciplinary framework with which to think through ecological, political, economic, and social issues. It also provides a multi-stage analysis of policy making from agenda setting through the evaluation process. The integration of social science perspectives and the combination of theoretical and empirical work make this innovative book one of the most comprehensive analyses of Canadian natural resource and environmental policy to date.

Its illumination of the key elements of government policy making in this critical sector and its new outline of the evolution of the Kyoto Protocol makes it a useful textbook and resource for students of environmental and public policy, policy makers, and environmental organizations.