The World Bank also has a large complement of conservative critics, mostly Republicans, who say that its loans are counterproductive and that they shore up socialist regimes.

Oil prices will remain high for the foreseeable future, yielding more revenue to shore up authoritarian regimes and thus making transitions to democracy more difficult.

My point is that UK interests in the critical regions like the Horn of Africa require security and stability, neither of which will be achieved by shoring up inherently illegitimate and, in fact, destabilizing regimes constructed at some international conference center.