This study examines the relationship between democracy and security in a rapidly changing global security environment characterised by renewed interstate conflict, shifting and intensifying geopolitical rivalry, and increasing emphasis on defence preparedness, militarisation, and protection against external threats. 

As state security concerns increasingly dominate internal and foreign policy agendas, political attention to and funding for democracy support have declined in many donor states, reflecting a growing assumption that democracy is secondary to more immediate state security priorities.

This review revisits that assumption. It examines whether and how democratic governance itself can function as a security asset, while also illustrating how democratic systems can come under pressure in securitised political environments. Rather than approaching democracy as a normative aspiration, the review treats the relationship between democracy and security as an empirical question. It synthesises findings from a large body of peer-reviewed research and major comparative datasets across multiple disciplines spanning over three decades, including political science, economics, and security studies.

The analysis draws on studies employing a range of rigorous empirical and counterfactual approaches, including cross-national statistical analysis, panel data methods, quasi-experimental designs, experimental research on political behaviour, and comparative historical analysis.

By integrating evidence from these diverse methodological traditions, the study seeks to identify what the most robust global academic evidence suggests about the relationship between democracy and security outcomes. The ultimate aim of the review is to situate democracy more clearly within contemporary security debates, focusing on integrated security encompassing state, human, and environmental dimensions, rather than older approaches limited to state security alone.