Editorial note: COVID-19 pandemic is ongoing @ Issue contents

When this Issue on the COVID-19 pandemic goes to press, the whole world is still in the middle of the crisis, though less intensely felt than the earlier moment of the greater lockdown. It is probably safe to suggest that the impacts of this event on our daily lives are one of the most global and most deeply penetrating in world history. In one way or another, all of us have been touched by the crisis and forced to accommodate. Whether the markers of the shared living experiences (face mask, social distancing, online schooling, etc.) will become part of the “new normal” remain to be seen, one thing is certain for intellectual work: we will need to document and analyze how different societies have been organized (and governed) in response to the COVID-19 problematics, in order to learn from each other and to pinpoint the working logics of different social formations. To this end, we have invited friends living in the Asia region and beyond to contribute their critical thoughts and reflections. In certain instances, the local difficulties in this depressing time have prevented them from finishing their writings. We hope their works can eventually be read in the future issues to come.