Germany had the conditions precedent to democracy, as did Japan: https://noahpinion.substack.com/p/the-afghanistan-occupation.... Things like rule of law, market economies, etc.

An authoritarian regime that liberalizes the underlying foundation of the country often creates the stage for a functional democracy. That happened in Germany, South Korea, Singapore, etc. See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Future_of_Freedom

But you can’t go from being a tribal society based on kinship ties and the only rule of law being the decisions of village elders to democracy.