RECONCEPTUALIZING LOCAL-COMMUNITY - ENVIRONMENT, IDENTITY AND THREAT

Economic 'development' driven by global economic forces produces speci fic expressions of 'community' in places where large new economic proj ects are to be located. This paper draws on contemporary geopolitical literature to theorise community identity as partly formulated in resp onse to external 'threats'. A comparative study of community mobilisat ion in response to proposals to locate coastal superquarries on the Is le of Harris, Outer Hebrides, Scotland, and Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, Canada, suggests the applicability of this theoretically framework for extending geographical analysis of community identity and the politic s of place.