ABSTRACT
The most enduring of all legacies in contemporary Romania is that of authoritarianism. Authoritarianism may take many forms, from the Ceausescu version and previous modes of communist rule to the military and royal dictatorships of the interwar period. In Romania, the explosion of popular wrath, together with the military's change from oppressor to agent of liberation, swept away the most centralized and seemingly monolithic regime of all of European communism. During the dramatic month of December 1989, Romania joined the ranks of other East European states in casting off the yoke of communist power and thus setting course for an uncertain future. The perceptions have long represented the views of the forward-looking individuals in Romanian society, who realized that the Ceausescu regime was devastating for the prospects of rejuvenation, be it economic or psychological, after the eventual death of the dictator.
