Applying a political economy perspective to their topic, Hessing (sociology and anthropology, Douglas College, Canada), Howlett (political science, Simon Fraser U., Canada), and Summerville (political science, U. of Northern British Columbia, Canada), examine the evolution of Canadian resource extraction and environmental protection policies. They introduce the notion of the "policy cycle" as a staged, sequential, and iterative model of the policy-making process and focus on the role of civil servants, industry representatives, members of environmental organizations, and other actors within the policy cycle in order to elucidate the pattern of policy change. Other major themes include the different ideological perspectives and material interests of the different actors, administrative concerns about the development and implementation of policies, and the substantive areas of policy analysis pertinent to resource extraction and environmental protection. Distributed in the US by the U. of Washington Press. Annotation ©2006 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)