Abstract A framework for explanation is most often provided by the frustration-aggression theory and the structural-functionalist theory of revolution but these have rarely been tested empirically within the same corpus of evidence. Using data collected through survey and correlation from three LGAs of Ondo State, Akure North, Akoko South-East and Akoko North-East it is seen that the frustration-aggression theory is the strongest predictor of the specific pattern of association between the incidence of kidnapping and human security. A survey (N = 280 of 302 questionnaires distributed: response rate = 93%) on perceptions of the effects of kidnapping in four discrete fields of institutional disruption and a composite index of general human security demonstrated a significantly and strongly positive association between kidnapping and each of the fields of health (r =.73), food (r =.62), economics (r =.58), and transportation (r =.56), all p <.01, but significantly weak positive association with the composite of all four fields (r =.23), p <.01. This discrepancy in behavior suggests that where insurgency has occurred, it leads to specific dysfunction between institutional subsystems rather than generalized dysfunction. Documentary and interview data gained elsewhere in the research programme, however, include clear traces of people's grievances with the government, the economy and the actions of the insurgent perpetrators. It is therefore that the two theories seem to operate as complementary rather than competing ones: the frustration-aggression theory explains the process of grievance; structural-functionalist theory explains the specific fields of institutional breakdown that generate rural insecurity.