The transition in East European countries generated many theoretical problems, especially regarding political culture. It is as difficult to establish where the east European political culture is rooted as to describe where those societies are heading to. The article is focused on Romanian case, examining Romanian political culture’s late parting from Communism, its ‘alleged’ rural character, the problems of corruption and political trust, trying to separate ‘hard’ legacies such as development (structural constraints) from ‘soft’ causes – socialization, media consuming and to determine to what extent the culture and the history can affect the present evolution of a country. Two historical ‘structural’ legacies were proved to matter in this analysis: underdevelopment (the ratio rural/urban) and the depth of penetration by the Communist regime of the Romanian society. The ‘soft constraints’ are formal institutions which can be changed (such as a poor electoral law), informal institutions and opinions which run counter to democracy. The article wrap up some conclusions of interest to political culture change and democratization, defining political culture of the transition as a mix of residual and recent attitudes, inherited formal institutions and continuous internalization of new norms. The past, even affecting the evolution of the country, is not a fatality, the import of institutions being possible and those who doubt about it should seek the causes of institutional failure in the area of their implementation, not in the “culture”.