Resource scarcity is a problem with starts, empires and even pre-historic hunter-gatherers have had to cope. More novel-indeed, maybe unique to our modern international society-is the problem of a resource curse. This occurs when high-value resources-oil and diamonds are the most common examples-have a detrimental effect on the societies in which they are found. Under normal circumstances, states benefit from being endowed with high-value natural resources. These add to a state's store of wealth, can be used to promote balanced economic growth, and tend to improve people's living standards while helping to support the formation and maintenance of viable governments. The resource curse theory stands this argument on its head. In many states, particuarly those with weak institutions and corrupt elites, high-value resources will actually distort development by redirecting scarce investment away from socioeconomic development in favour of increased resource extraction. This can undermine the political process and cause domestic conflicts over the distribution of resource wealth. Even in well-governed countries, the curse might apply. Thus, the problem does not just impact places like Nigeria, but has consequences for the oil-rich states of the Middle East even some substate actors, such as the province of Alberta in the short term, but it also creates uneven development and potentially undermines democratic practices. As the old saying goes, too much of a good thing is still too much.