On the evening of September 21st, 2020, Prof. Eduardo Marques, Professor of the Department of Political Science at the University of Sao Paulo, gave an online lecture entitled “The Politics of Incremental Progressivism: Governments, Governances and Urban Policy Changes in São Paulo” to doctorate students at Institute of International and Area Studies, Tsinghua University (IIAS-THU) and other scholars with strong interest in Latin American studies.

In the lecture, Prof. Marques shared his unique thoughts and views on the changes of government, governance and urban policies in Sao Paulo from the perspective of incremental progressivism and advocated breaking the prejudice against the characteristics of the governments and democratic political systems of the South. Taking Sao Paulo’s urban development since the 1980s as an example, Prof. Marques elaborated the redistributive policy changes that have taken place in the cities of the South and their role, conveyed his insights on the differences between the North and the South and explained his research methodology, processes and findings in detail.

In the Q&A session, Prof. Marques patiently and generously answered a series of questions raised by the students, actively explored the relationship between redistribution policies and political elections and illustrated the role and influence of specific policies in other Latin American countries, taking the current progress of slum upgrading policies around Mexican cities as an example. Participants agreed that Prof. Eduardo Marques’ views highly inspired and guided their roadmaps of academic exploration.

Prof. Eudardo Marques is Professor of the Department of Political Science and Research Fellow of the Metropolitan Research Center at the University of Sao Paulo. He is also Member of the Editorial Board of International Journal of Urban and Regional Research (IJURR) and Part-time Professor of the Urban School of the Paris Institute of Political Studies. He was Director of the Metropolitan Research Center and Deputy Secretary-general of the Brazilian Political Science Association. Prof. Marques’ research interest covers public policy, sociology, urban politics, urban inequality and social networks.

By: Xu Shuai