There are a few examples in history of civilizations running out of critical resources, usually accompanied by other conflict and calamity. In the most extreme historical cases, these civilizations go extinct in ways that left us with poor documentation, so there may be an anthropic / selection bias which obscures the exact causes of civilizational collapse:
The 11th century collapse of North African civilization is attributed to exhaustion of resources in concert with foreign invasion. Here exhaustion of resources refers to desertification.
The collapse of irrigation in Mesopotamia is attributed to the 13th century invasion of Mesopotamia by Genghis Kahn is attributed and led to the transition of the region into nomadic tribes.
There are several instances of social destabilization following closely on this heels of famine and rising food prices. However, famine is almost always a result of political or economic mismanagement, rather than pure constraints on non-food resources. The Arab Spring is sort of the canonical example of food scarcity resulting in higher food prices and subsequent political instability.
Caveat: history is really complicated, and I am only parroting popular views. I am not a historian, nor do I have any detailed knowledge of these events.
There are a few examples in history of civilizations running out of critical resources, usually accompanied by other conflict and calamity. In the most extreme historical cases, these civilizations go extinct in ways that left us with poor documentation, so there may be an anthropic / selection bias which obscures the exact causes of civilizational collapse:
Deforestation and the introduction of rats in Easter Island in the 1500s led to [ecological collapse](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Easter_Island) and reduction in population from ca. 15k to 2k~3k. However, [some dispute this](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collapse:_How_Societies_Choose_to_Fail_or_Succeed#Criticisms) and claim the collapse was due to disease.
The 11th century collapse of North African civilization is attributed to exhaustion of resources in concert with foreign invasion. Here exhaustion of resources refers to desertification.
The collapse of irrigation in Mesopotamia is attributed to the 13th century invasion of Mesopotamia by Genghis Kahn is attributed and led to the transition of the region into nomadic tribes.
There are several instances of social destabilization following closely on this heels of famine and rising food prices. However, famine is almost always a result of political or economic mismanagement, rather than pure constraints on non-food resources. The Arab Spring is sort of the canonical example of food scarcity resulting in higher food prices and subsequent political instability.
However, political instability is not a de facto result of food shortages. The 20th century saw many famines with relatively limited political consequences: the [Russian Famine of 1921](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_famine_of_1921%E2%80%931922), the [Soviet famine of 1932](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soviet_famine_of_1932%E2%80%931933), the [Great Leap Forward/Great Chinese Famine](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Chinese_Famine), and the [1996 famine in North Korea](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Korean_famine) are prominent examples. It may be noted that none of these countries were technologically advanced or democratic: perhaps free communications are a prerequisite to shortage-induced political instability?
Caveat: history is really complicated, and I am only parroting popular views. I am not a historian, nor do I have any detailed knowledge of these events.