Dear Colleagues,

In the early 2020s, many countries have experienced political, economic and social crises. Some of them have been a result of the global COVID-19 pandemic, while others have been a result of sanctions on Russia after the invasion of Ukraine, among various other reasons. As concerns politics, societies have witnessed the fragility of democracy, and struggled with the violation of democratic principles including the restriction of formal equality, personal freedom and freedom of expression and media. In the realm of economics, societies have coped with disrupted international trade relationships, administrative restrictions in domestic markets, changes in labor conditions, loss of jobs in restricted sectors and labor force shortages in booming sectors, huge state spending and redistribution, inflation and slow economic growth. All this has disproportionally affected vulnerable households and individuals with a low income, low-skilled, part-time, temporary and self-employed workers, women, youth, pensioners and immigrants. Social relationships have changed too. Physical face-to-face interactions have been reduced and replaced by online interactions, which has affected relationships between family members, friends and workmates. Online platforms have, however, contributed to spreading misinformation, defamation and feelings of loneliness.

This Special Issue aims at bringing together research that investigates the latest political, economic and social changes. Researchers from different disciplines (e.g., sociology, political science, economics) are invited to contribute empirically and theoretically on (but not limited to) the following themes:

• Evaluations and understanding of democracy;
• Satisfaction with democratic institutions;
• Freedom, equality and identity;
• Satisfaction with the economy, income and work;
• Migration, inflow of refugees and social solidarity;
• Social contacts and social trust.

Dr. Klára Vlachová
Guest Editor

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