Shodh Prabha: A Multidisciplinary Journal

Democracy As Soft Power: India and Asean in the Indo-Pacific

India has maintained its long history of democratic rule in the post-colonial world despite a considerable diversity with respect to race, ethnicity, religion, language, etc. India has sustained constitutional governance through an independent judiciary system, regular elections and a pluralist social order. These democratic values have been reflected not only in India's domestic political institutions, but also in how India conducts itself externally, especially in the Indo-Pacific region. This research inspects whether democracy can serve as an influencing force for regional diplomacy without being coercive or using political intervention. The study observes the use of democratic values as a soft power in India-ASEAN relations, especially within a region that contain diverse political systems from electoral democracies to authoritarian regimes. The research questions motivating this study include: (1) What role does India diplomatically play as a democratic country with respect to ASEAN? (2) How far does democracy encourage political resilience and normative cooperation amongst the countries of Indo-Pacific? and (3) How can India promote democratic values within the ASEAN region while maintaining ASEAN's existing norm of non-interference? The primary objective is to evaluate how democracy can be used as a non-coercive tool in the pursuit of regional diplomacy for India. The paper follows a qualitative and analytical approach. It analyses policy documents, institutional cooperation frameworks, and diplomatic initiatives to study the normative nature of India-ASEAN relations. The key findings suggest that instead of being a political standard, democracy can be used as a normative resource for increasing trust and building cooperative relationships as India has used capacity-building, parliamentary exchanges and governance-related cooperation. Ultimately, the research concludes that using democratic values as a soft power diplomacy can build India's credibility as a stabilising partner.