The 2020s are turbulent times. When the special issue that this book is based on came out, the COVID-19 pandemic's impact on society had been disastrous in terms of illness and death. The Russian invasion of Ukraine had revived the spectre of nuclear war. High fuel prices had created a cost-of-living crisis on a scale not seen for many decades, which has largely continued despite reductions in inflation. The Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement had brought violent policing practices to the fore, provoking powerful challenges to racist practices and institutions worldwide. Women's rights were, and continue to be, under renewed attack from authoritarian and chauvinistic governments, and progress on LGBTQ+ people's rights had stalled in many places and regressed in others. Indigenous communities across the world had continued to be exploited, unrecognised and marginalised. In the period since, we have witnessed a plausible genocide in Gaza and the return of a Trump presidency in the US, which many fear will exacerbate many of these issues globally. Critically, all of these intersecting political and social challenges are set against the devasting backdrop of rapid climate change, for which the dreaded 1.5°C of warming is almost guaranteed to be surpassed within a decade.

While policy responses to these issues have been more robust in some countries than others, symbolic action and agenda denial are widespread, with policy makers showing few signs of meaningful attention or sustained response. In short, there is a notable lack of action on the most pressing challenges our societies face across the world.