Wouldn't it be nice if you could not only enlighten them, but also stagnate them.
"This species is deemed to dangerous to be allowed into the galactic community."
"Exactly, now imagine them in power armor with laser rifles!"
"My~" takes off glasses. "God."
*Plants operatives onto planet with mechanics similar to infiltration takeover and occassionally have progress reports or missions where your agents can be like 'So theres conflict between X and Y, you want I should make this a nuclear war?' etc*