My coworker, who was once finance manager to the Prime Minister of New Guinea, told me, without ever referencing Star Trek, the first ever decent defense of the Prime Directive.
The people of New Guinea were told the value of a Western style education. so villages would save up to send one bright young man out to get an education, then to send money back to the village.
These young men would leave school brilliant, but unable to do anything in the largely non-industrial country. Consequently, to save face and repay their village, they mainly turned to crime.
A whole sub class of young, educated criminals infested every city, where previously urban crime was almost non-existant.