Slovakia could have gone a Yugoslavia way. About 10% of the population is Hungarian and about 3% Rom. There were political/social forces that could have used these groups as scapegoats and there were political parties in the Slovak Parliament aligned with that wish.

For whatever reason, Slovakia did not go that direction.

I also think that the Slovak was stronger that what most economists were predicting. The Slovak people are good workers and problem solving. They had good social programs to help the population through its transition.

When I was there, I met people who were temporarily working in Austria as construction workers, both laborers and trades. They were working "pod stolom", getting paid in cash with Austrian shillings. Often, their Slovak employers allowed the employees to spend a few weeks in Austria--and come back to their regular job which paid about a third of the under-table job in Austria. I think there was an underground setup that allowed this movement of Slovak workers.

This caused a little labor shortage in Slovakia. So Ukrainians were sneaking into Slovakia to do the same thing. The Ukrainians were being paid less than Slovaks in these jobs. But the Ukrainians were making more money than back home .