I've recently been reading 'Confessions of an economic hitman'. I think the phrase The end justifies the means is relevant to what was happening in the situations in that book. Economic hitman would be like vultures in the sky looking for countries which were seeking development to appease the local people and prevent from regime change, civil war, etc. These countries would be given huge amounts of investment in the shape of loans, which the economic hitman would model situations which they hope they would either have to go into huge amounts of debt or the countries would have to allow the building of army bases, huge discounts on oil, being sympathetic to American interests and needs, etc as a way to slow down the debt the country incurred. 'the end justifies the means' in this situation due to the quality of life the local people would benefit from the newly built schools, airports, oil pipelines, etc which would hopefully after many years, be able to pay off.
Is the situation ideal? no, ultimately only the construction contractors, and the assets the Americans controlled in the country ultimately benefited. but on the back of that scenario the local government were able to satisfy the needs of the local people, stay seated in power, and improve literacy, technical and academic levels.