Its no accident modern democracy emerged in trading nations and cities. The democratic impulse developed in England, the Netherlands, and a number of city-states, most notably in Italy. All were heavily involved in trade.
Such democratic breakthroughs were grounded in what today we call economic freedom and property rights. Sustainable democracy and freedom has never emerged in any city or state that lacks economic freedom most particularly, the freedom to exchange goods (the domestic version of free trade) and property rights.