The nations of the West have long promoted democracy and democratic reforms throughout the world and have taken considerable pride in the downfall of the Soviet Union and the potential for more democratic regimes in the former Eastern bloc states. Yet, the West has also often been quite willing to ignore the way some regimes have behaved in the past so long as they were not communist, and one example of this realpolitik approach can be seen in the history of Zaire during the regime of Mobutu Seko Sese, about which a reporter for Reuters could write, "The word 'kleptocracy' meaning a bureaucracy in which corruption is endemic was coined with Zaire in mind" ("Mobutu, Textbook Strongman"). The reporter further notes that in spite of human rights abuses and the use of his position to enrich himself at the expense of his people, "Mobutu became the darling of the United States and others in the West as a buffer against the communist bloc" ("Mobutu, Textbook Strongman").
Once in power, Mobutu sought to centralize state power in order to penetrate all aspects, but in the economic realm, these efforts met with catastrophic results. Mobutu began a major state expansion and consolidation, and key to this process was the notion of economic sovereignty. Mobutu sought to bring economic activity within his tight control, giving particular attention to the mining activity in the secessionist Shaba and Kasai regions. Mobutu's primary objective was the consolidation of presidential authority and spending ability, and to finance the state goals he had in mind, Mobutu had to acquire major new financial resources for development projects and for slush money. The Mobutu government thus became increasingly preoccupied throughout the 1970s with raising revenue in order to finance grandiose projects. The local practice of patrimonialism meant that the president and his associates had free rein to enrich themselves in government and other spheres...