Special issue introduction: The political ramifications of COVID-19

Starting in February 2020, the world experienced probably the worst external shock of the 21st century to date, the ongoing COVID-19 crisis. Detected first in the province of Wuhan, People’s Republic of China (PRC), in December 2019, or January 2020, COVID-19 travelled across the world, infecting over 130 million individuals and killing almost three million people (as of 7 April 2021), and the numbers continue to grow (see Johns Hopkins University Corona Virus Resource Center, 2021). The COVID-19 pandemic continues to generate a political and economic crisis of global magnitude with countries in the Global South and Global North grappling with the health consequences of the virus and the social and economic outcomes of the varying strategies imposed by national and subnational governments to halt the spread of COVID-19. The scale of the crisis has triggered a so-called risk-society in many countries across the globe in which ‘concerns about personal safety and health as well as collective security have risen to the top of the social and political agendas’ (Boin and t’Hart, 2003: 548). With few exceptions governments in countries as diverse as India, Germany or Argentina have reacted to the highly contagious disease by implementing drastic measures including shutting down economies and confining people to their homes. These measures inflict enormous damage beyond their health impacts and have created severe strains on the economic and social lives of countries. Specifically, the crisis has already triggered one of the largest economic recessions of the 21st century with millions of people unemployed around the world. In addition, social distancing and confinement measures have curtailed basic individual freedoms and put a strain on human relations. School and childcare facility closures have led to increased stress in families causing psychological damage. The COVID-19 pandemic is a ‘transboundary crisis’; a crisis where ‘the functioning of multiple, life-sustaining systems, functions, or infrastructures is acutely threatened and the causes of