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Editorial |
Editorial
| The first 10% of the full text of this article appears below. |
This issue begins with an article focused on Canada rural communities. Recent literature has placed considerable emphasis on the importance of building and mobilizing neighbourhood or community social capital. There is less written about how social capital can be concretized in situations of community conflict. The article by Ann Dale and Jennie Sparkes reports on some qualitative research conducted into a campaign led by a Canadian community rich in human and social capital against a multi-national corporation. They highlight the important role in the campaign played by 'critical node individuals' operating within an open diverse network system and able to make and sustain connections strong enough to engage in a unified campaign. The authors suggest that certain network structures are more likely to facilitate