The pandemic caused by the COVID-19 virus produced a global health crisis that has intensified profound inequalities and accelerated political transformations. Among others, these transformations are manifest in different policy areas that are likely to shape the world that is yet to come in the pandemic’s aftermath. Following Arundhati Roy’s commentary about the pandemic as a portal into a transformative future, DAWN’s Policy Transformations Project seeks to identify some of the traits of the worlds to
come. We see four major interconnected policy trends that constitute our working hypotheses: (a) policies that are stagnant and path dependent; (b) policies that increase corporate capture of the political space; (c) policies that increase biopolitical control and expand the ongoing authoritarian trend; and/or (d) policies that are transformative and progressive, where the crisis effectively acts as a portal with potential to expand feminist social justice and democracy. Using a feminist intersectional and interlinkages approach, this Discussion Paper examines trends in policy transformations in macroeconomics, labour policy and workers’ rights, migrations and human mobilities, and care and social protection. It proposes an analytical framework that is expansive enough to accommodate for local, national, and regional contexts, while providing common grounds for a global comparative approach. It seeks to be a tool for feminist research to accommodate for local, national, and regional contexts, while providing common grounds for a global comparative approach. It seeks to be a tool for feminist research to inform our actions in shaping the post-pandemic world.