The article argues that the ethnic security dilemmas (ESDs) form
the basis for a political economy channel of the natural resource curse. Strategic
 uncertainty of voters and joy of destruction (envy) of leaders underpin the ESDs:
most voters vote pro-ethnically, and leaders of one political party find strategies to
undermine the other. Control of government for the purpose of allocating resource
rents to favoured constituencies is the prize. This view is supported by a survey of