New Delhi (ABC Live): For more than three decades, governments and international institutions have promoted regime change and democracy export as tools to curb authoritarian drift and restore stability. They have used military action, diplomatic pressure, election monitoring, and economic conditions to push this agenda. The core belief has stayed the same: remove the regime, hold elections, and democracy will follow.

India challenges this belief.

As ABC Live earlier explained in How India Became a Phoenix Civilisation, India’s political system evolves through repeated cycles of disruption and renewal. Therefore, democracy in India does not function as an imported model. Instead, it works as a civilisational adaptation mechanism. Comparative democracy data strongly support this view.

India Is Not a Blank-Slate Democracy

Large democracy datasets clearly separate procedural democracy (elections) from substantive democracy (institutions, accountability, and continuity). India fits firmly into this distinction.

According to the Varieties of Democracy Project (V-Dem):

• India has remained an electoral democracy since independence, despite periodic stress.

• Democratic decline appears gradual, not sudden.

• Crucially, India has avoided regime collapse, unlike post-coup or post-intervention states.

These findings appear in V-Dem’s official India brief:
https://www.v-dem.net/media/publications/country_brief_india.pdf

Similarly, the Polity IV Project classifies India as a democracy with high institutional persistence, while neighbouring states show repeated reversals.

Constitutional Continuity vs Regime Disruption

ABC Live Insight:
Here, the data points in one direction. Continuity matters more than perfection. India’s uninterrupted Constitution explains its resilience far better than any single election outcome.

Pakistan: Regime Change Without Democratic Control

Pakistan shows what happens when regime change occurs without civilian supremacy.

First, Polity IV records repeated shifts between democracy and autocracy since 1958.
Second, V-Dem documents long-term military dominance, even during elected rule.

As a result, elections fail to transfer real power. Voters choose leaders, but security institutions retain control. Therefore, regime change replaces faces, not authority.

Bangladesh: Elections Without Institutional Autonomy

Bangladesh sits between consolidation and collapse.

On the one hand, V-Dem still classifies Bangladesh as an electoral democracy. On the other hand, liberal indicators continue to weaken.
Meanwhile, Polity IV highlights executive dominance and repeated democratic breaks.

Consequently, high voter turnout has not produced trust. Courts, caretaker systems, and emergency tools often settle disputes that elections should resolve. Over time, this pattern weakens democratic confidence.

India in Global Context: Closer to the West Than Export Targets

Baseline Comparison

Key Point:
Statistically, India behaves like established democracies under pressure, not like countries rebuilt after intervention.

Democracy Export Failures: Comparative Evidence

Notably, V-Dem data shows a higher risk of reversal within ten years where external actors drive regime change.

World Bank Data: State Capacity Decides Outcomes

The World Bank Worldwide Governance Indicators (WGI) reinforce this trend.

• India scores higher on the rule of law and government effectiveness than most regime-change states.

• Pakistan and Bangladesh show persistent weakness in political stability and accountability.

• Post-intervention states perform worst across almost all indicators.

Therefore, democracy struggles when state capacity remains weak.

Elections vs Democratic Depth

In short, India sustains democracy through contested continuity, not forced transition.

ABC Live Editorial Conclusion

Across V-Dem, Polity IV, and World Bank data, the evidence leads to one conclusion:

• Pakistan shows how frequent regime change erodes democracy without civilian control.

• Bangladesh shows how elections stall without strong institutions.

• Western democracies endure because citizens internalise democratic norms.

• India endures because democracy operates as a constitutional and civilisational process.

India does not need democracy exported or reset.
Instead, it needs democracy debated, corrected, and renewed from within.

Regime change fails in India not because democracy never weakens, but because its system repairs itself.

That strength does not signal fragility.
It signals democratic depth.

Verified Sources

• Varieties of Democracy (V-Dem), University of Gothenburg
  https://www.v-dem.net/media/publications/country_brief_india.pdf

• Polity IV Project, Centre for Systemic Peace

• World Bank, Worldwide Governance Indicators

• ABC Live: How India Became a Phoenix Civilisation