This panel aims to discuss both the determinants and the implications of societal and elite attitudes towards the past in post-authoritarian democracies. Although there have been laudable attempts to define what legacies of dictatorship are (Cesarini and Hite 2004) and how they may impact the quality of democracies (Morlino 2010), little has been said about the determinants of these legacies at the attitudinal level as well as the implications of those attitudes, particularly from a comparative perspective. Attitudes towards the past may be determined by different factors ranging from individual, socialization and contextual (Aguilar, Balcells and Cebolla 2011). In addition, recent political and economic events may also lead to changes in elite and mass views of the past. Does EU membership influence individual support for non-democratic regimes? Does post-transitional justice bring renewed attitudes towards the past? What about the current economic crisis? Is the hybridity of certain regimes also reflected in the attitudes of segments of the population? Second, we also know little about the impact that more or less positive attitudes towards authoritarianism and a previous autocratic regime may have on levels of trust in institutions, dissatisfaction with democracy, and support for certain policy packages, namely transitional justice. None of these issues have been sufficiently explored in the literature. The panel puts together scholars working on different European regions (Southern, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe) adopting both quantitative and qualitative approaches, and focusing both on elite and citizens' attitudes.