As the Dalai Lama built a nation in exile after fleeing Chinese persecution in the 1950s, the young leader pinned its survival on an idea that had long fascinated him: democracy.

It was part natural inclination, part strategy.

On visits to neighboring India, he had been charmed by its nascent republic’s culture of open debate. He also knew that too much power had been vested in one man as both the spiritual and political leader of Tibet.

So, over the decades, he gradually devolved his own power to an elected Parliament based in the Indian Himalayas, and then retired his political role completely in 2011. Creating a robust structure not dependent on a single leader, he believed, according to senior monks and officials close to him, would help exiled Tibetans withstand Beijing’s efforts to crush their movement for freedom and autonomy.

“The rule by kings and religious figures is outdated,” the Dalai Lama, who celebrates his 90th birthday on Sunday, said the year he gave up his political role. “We have to follow the trend of the free world, which is that of democracy.”