Coronavirus has upended established politics and economics – and toppled some politicians. Governments need to bridge the divisions the crisis has created within countries and within international alliances as they try to plot a route to recovery and seize the opportunities emerging from the upheaval.

It has been a year that no one would have predicted – apart from epidemiologists who have long expected that a pandemic would grip the world at some point. Still, as reports of successes in vaccines begin to stack up, it is possible to see some of the themes that will shape the coming year in government.