This paper considers the long-term political and social legacies left behind by authoritarian regimes in Europe, with a focus on Spain, Portugal, Yugoslavia, East Germany and others in Eastern Europe. This paper strives to ascertain how the regimes shaped the setting of societal norms, political attitude, and behaviors, and how these legacies remain vigorous to this day after eventual transition to democracy. Authoritarian regimes inculcated values of social conformity, loyalty, and obedience through such mechanisms as education, propaganda, and state-controlled organizations that continued to affect political culture and trust in the institutions. The paper does, however, indicate that most of such legacies, particularly low political participation, distrust in democratic institutions, dominance of the former elites and the positive memory of the country's former ruler keep on being manifested in post-authoritarian societies. While the focus of this paper has been to try and establish how such mechanisms of authoritarian socialization persist by showing the present effects, most of that is achieved, although challenges arose in distinguishing these legacies from other contemporary socio-political factors. The findings suggest that further research is needed to explain how these legacies interact with contemporary dynamics. Comparative research across different regime types may allow richer specification of particular mechanisms driving the persistence of authoritarian values. Such as the differences between right wing authoritarian regimes (Portugal and Spain) and left wing authoritarian regimes (East Europe) In this way, the paper speaks to the larger debate about how to consolidate democratic institutions and spur civic participation in the post-authoritarian setting.