Discusses the birth pangs of democracy in post-communist Romania, and its difficult transition from a state of non-law to a rule-of-law state.

Vladimir Tismaneanu is professor of politics at the University of Maryland, College Park and the author of numerous books and articles on the revolutions of 1989, the history of world communism, and political ideologies. In 2006, he chaired the Presidential Commission for the Analysis of the Communist Dictatorship in Romania. Between 1998 and 2004, he was the editor of the journal East European Politics and Societies.

Introduction; 1. Judging the past in post-traumatic societies: Romania in comparative perspective; 2. Romania before 2006; 3. Coming to terms with the past in Romania: the presidential commission; 4. Reactions to the condemnation and political re-arrangements after 2007; 5. The report's aftermath: interpretations, polemics, and policies; 6. Romania and the European framework of dealing with the communist past.