This article explains why resource-rich countries tend to spawn predatory political states that distort the economy and create four of Collier's conditions for civil strife, namely a growth collapse, low educational attainment, a large cohort of unemployed young males and high resource dependence. Yet, the article also shows that these conditions characterize the resource-rich countries as a group, and most have avoided civil strife. The second part of the study therefore identifies the specific properties of natural resources associated with conflict, namely socio-economic linkages, the ratio of commodity value to weight and relative location. However, this manifestation of the resource curse, like others, is not a deterministic phenomenon so that domestic and global policies can limit resource-driven conflict.