The implication of the path dependencies in education serve as an explanation scheme for the developments of educational systems, didactical approaches, self-understanding of teachers, learning environments and contents of educational materials and practice (cf. Niyozov 2011). This path dependency implication is especially relevant for civic and history education. The contribution demonstrates some specifics of civic and citizenship education in Russia, Germany, using some examples of Estonia and Bulgaria, concentrates on the question of how fruitful a common analysis of post-socialist and non-post-socialist post-authoritarian education (Ferreira et al. 2012), can be in approaching and explaining path dependencies in education with focus on authoritarian history (cf. Hedtke, Zimenkova, Hippe 2007). The author suggests a possible instrument suitable for detecting the post-socialist relevancies in civic, citizenship and historic education, opening up a discussion on the suitability of common instruments for researching post-socialist and post-authoritarian education. Can educational research profit from a comparison of educational practices belonging to different – albeit both authoritarian- political systems? Can a comparative perspective be fruitful for detecting different dimensions of path dependencies components, which could not be detected while focusing on the post-socialist countries only? Or is this a wrong track, comparing the incomparable?