The paper explores how regime change affects social movements, drawing on studies of Latin America, Southern Europe and Eastern Europe. After discussing the concepts and method used, it is argued that social movements do exist in authoritarian regimes, and hence the question of the effect of regime change upon them can be posed. Contrary to the assumption that democratisation leads to the flourishing of social movements as repression is removed and new channels of participation are opened up, it is shown that in the immediate period between the end of an authoritarian regime and the initiation of a democratic one the opposite effect may occur. This is because liberalisation in authoritarian regimes can lead to a particularly high level of social movement activity which cannot be sustained once more ‘normal’ conditions apply. The utility of the concept of regime change is questioned, and the desirability of breaking it down into its component parts which may be more or less present in different cases is stressed.