ABSTRACT
This chapter aims at describing and analysing the development of Slovakia's position towards applying the federal lustration laws and its way of dealing with communist past in general, as well as in examining the reasons why this development has been so different from the other transitioning countries in the region, especially the Czech Republic. It examines the role of key Slovak political figures and parties as well as some specific features of Slovak politics both before and after the Velvet Revolution and the Velvet Divorce. As Nadia Nedelsky points out, there are several theoretical concepts attempting to link state's performance in dealing with its past to what the past looked like –that is, how rigid and strict the authoritarian regime was and in what way did the transition proceed. The starting point for Slovakia, concerning lustrations after the Velvet Divorce, was the so-called "great" lustration law and the "small" lustration law, adopted in the times of federation.
