The ruling elite (everywhere) have as their primary motivation the maintenance/control/expansion of the wealth-generation/-extraction systems that provide their revenue streams and thus power/prestige/privileged positions. Everything else is secondary/tertiary; although ALL is spun/marketed as being beneficial and for the masses. Sociopolitical collapse happens when the costs of participating in one's complex society outweigh the benefits. As the diminishing returns on our investments in complexity kick in with greater and greater force (and thus negative consequences) expect more and more scenes like what has happened in Sri Lanka. Unfortunately, a social revolution can oftentimes simply replace one set of criminals with another...