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The Struggle for Democracy is a Canadian documentary television series, which premiered in 1989.[1] Hosted by Patrick Watson, the series profiled the birth and evolution of democracy, including both the challenges and the opportunities that lay ahead for it in the future.[2]
The series was also paired with a companion book, co-written by Watson and Benjamin Barber, and published by Lester & Orpen Dennys.[3]
Production on the series was first announced in 1987, when Watson stepped down as host of the business news series Venture to begin work on the project.[4] The series premiered January 8, 1989, airing simultaneously in English on CBC Television and in French on Télévision de Radio-Canada.[5] It later aired on PBS in the United States in 1989,[6] and ITV in the United Kingdom in 1990.[7]
The series did face some minor criticism for the fact that due to the rapidly-changing geopolitical climate of the late 1980s, it had been completed too early to cover some noteworthy events at all, including the Tiananmen Square protests and the Soviet Bloc Revolutions of 1989.[6] Following the original ten-episode 1989 series, Watson created a sequel special in 1990, covering the events in China and Eastern Europe.[8]
| No. | Title | Original airdate |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Genesis | January 8, 1989 |
| 2 | Reborn in America | January 15, 1989 |
| 3 | Chiefs and Strongmen | January 29, 1989 |
| 4 | The Tyranny of the Majority | February 5, 1989 |
| 5 | The Rule of Law | February 12, 1989 |
| 6 | The Last Citizens | February 19, 1989 |
| 7 | The First Freedom | February 26, 1989 |
| 8 | The Price of Democracy | March 5, 1989 |
| 9 | A Soldier's Duty | March 19, 1989 |
| 10 | Whither Democracy? | March 26, 1989 |
| 11 | The Curtain Rises | June 24, 1990 |
| Award | Date of Ceremony | Category | Nominees | Result | Reference |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gemini Awards | 1989 | Best Documentary Series | Ted Remerowski | Won | [9] |
| Gordon Sinclair Award | Patrick Watson | Won | [10] | ||
| Best Original Music for a Series | Micky Erbe and Maribeth Solomon, "The First Freedom" | Won | [11] | ||
| Best Picture Editing in an Information or Documentary Program or Series | John Gareau, "Chiefs and Strongmen" | Nominated | [12] | ||
| Fred Gauthier, "The Tyranny of the Majority" | Nominated | ||||
| Sound in an Information or Documentary Program or Series | Ian Challis, Wesley J. Blanchard, Tibor Gyokeres and Paul Massey, "Reborn in America" | Won | [11] | ||
| 1990 | Best Photography in an Information/Documentary Program or Series | Michael Boland, "The Curtain Rises" | Nominated |
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