This paper offers an analysis of the theoretical and empirical challenges the coronavirus pandemic poses for theories of policy change. Critical events like coronavirus disease are potentially powerful destabilizers that can trigger discontinuity in policy trajectories and thus are an opportunity for accentuating path shifts. In this paper, we argue that three dynamic pathways of change are possible and must be considered when analysing post-COVID policymaking: normalization, adaptation, and acceleration. These different pathways need to be explored in order to understand the mid- and long-term policy effects of the pandemic. This introduction contextualizes the articles in this special issue, situating them broadly within two broad categories: (a) assessment of how the coronavirus disease pandemic should be understood as a crisis event, and its role in relationship to mechanisms of policy change; and (b) mapping the future contours of the pandemic’s impact on substantive policy areas, including education, health care, public finance, social protection, population ageing, the future of work, and violence against women.

中文翻译：

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冠状病毒的长期政策影响：后 COVID 状态的正常化、适应和加速

本文分析了冠状病毒大流行给政策变革理论带来的理论和实证挑战。冠状病毒病等重大事件是潜在的强大不稳定因素，可能引发政策轨迹的不连续性，因此是加剧路径转变的机会。在本文中，我们认为三种动态变化途径是可能的，并且在分析后 COVID 政策制定时必须考虑：正常化、适应和加速。需要探索这些不同的途径，以了解大流行的中长期政策影响。本导言将本期特刊中的文章置于上下文中，将它们大致分为两大类：(a) 评估冠状病毒病大流行应如何理解为危机事件，及其在政策变化机制中的作用；(b) 绘制大流行对实质性政策领域影响的未来轮廓，包括教育、医疗保健、公共财政、社会保护、人口老龄化、工作的未来和对妇女的暴力行为。