[grecy]

I'm in West Africa now and I'm experiencing this first-hand with regards to resource exploitation.

Interestingly, the large oil players (Shell, BP, etc.) do actually mandate some things - i.e. they are not really supposed to buy oil from countries that don't have functioning elections, some environmental protections, human rights, etc. etc. I believe this is a requirement of the World Bank, and the UN.

This is why you see shill elections in a lot of West African countries - they need it to look like they are functioning democracy, even though a country has had the same "elected" president for 22 years :)

Also, this is why Africa loves dealing with China, who doesn't get involved in their internal politics.