People who get high level of influence, wealth or power over others are more inclined to do morally incorrect things to increase or keep these things. It has been visible in history a lot and makes things make more sense further than just calling individuals evil or incompetent.

Materialism kinda follows this basic concept. Everything has an influence on the behavior and decisions of people or states. It is rarely individuals deciding to be evil or morally bad but their position or the general environment encouraging these decisions