Capitalism is by nature acquisitive, with excess profits accruing to a small, non-productive minority or elite. Because the motivation for production is that of profit, property-owners seek and find ways of making more profit from overseas investment where labour costs are low and raw materials easily available. To ensure that the profit flows to them and is not diverted to the majority in the countries concerned, political control may have been or may be established, directly as colonialism or indirectly as economic imperialism and the manipulation of foreign debts and capital control. The people of such countries are thus effectively denied the right to national self-determination. This may cause alienation and retard development, and is likely to lead to revolution or guerrilla warfare which may escalate if larger powers take part on either side.