Path-dependency and path-creation perspectives on migration trajectories: The economic experiences of Vietnamese migrants in Slovakia

Abstract

There has been only limited research on the Vietnamese diaspora, and that has mostly focussed on Western market economies. This paper explores the distinctive migration, dictated by Cold War geopolitics, from Viet Nam to the Eastern bloc countries. It examines how the intersection of migration policies and politico-economic conditions, before and after the end of state socialism in 1989, produced two distinctive migration phases. Faced with economic constraints, and mediated by their relationships with the Slovak population, most Vietnamese who stayed in, or migrated to, Slovakia after 1989 survived economically by finding a niche in market trading. This paper adopts a path-creating path-dependent perspective to examine these migration trajectories through an analysis based on in-depth interviews with Vietnamese migrants. © 2007 IOM.