On December 14, 2022, PKU lecture series of "The Belt and Road and International Governance"-"The Narrative of Democratic Governance and its Failed Expectation" was successfully held online. The lecture was delivered by Işıl Aral, Assistant Professor of Public International Law of Koc University and Research Fellow of the Centre for International Law of Manchester University, presided over by Zhang Kangle, Assistant Professor of the School of Law of PKU, and invited Lai Huaxia, Assistant Professor of the School of International Relations of PKU, Feng Liyu, PhD candidate of the School of Law of Cambridge University, and Wang Jiayu, PhD candidate of the School of Law of PKU as reviewers.

Assistant Professor Aral’s interests include basic theory of international law, critical international jurisprudence and law of international organizations. Aral's completed book International Law as a Narrative will be published by Cambridge University Press in 2023. In this lecture, Aral shared the core of the new book.

The lecture was divided into three parts. The first part introduced "the narrative of democratic governance" in international jurisprudence. The second part elaborated the study of international law from the perspective of narratology. The third part was the analysis of "the narrative of democratic governance" with the international jurisprudence method of narratology. In Professor Aral’s opinion, the narrative of democratic governance in international jurisprudence is actually artificially created by western scholars of international law. It is necessary to be wary of this narrative and its normative effect in international jurisprudence, and also to pay attention to the role and influence of international jurist in international jurisprudence.

Host Zhang Kangle asked questions at first, Feng Liyu suggested that Professor Aral’s discussion of narratology reminded her of Andrew Abbott's two ways of telling history, Lai Huaxia pointed out that discussions on the Second World War, the UN Charter and the end of the Cold War are common themes in the field of international relations and international law. Wang Jiayu pointed out that using the end of the Cold War as a turning point has been replicated in other social sciences. Professor Aral responded to comments and questions from the host and the reviewers.

With the theme of "The Narrative of Democratic Governance and its Failed Expectation", this lecture provided a new understanding of narratology and the narrative of democratic governance in international law. It attracted more than 100 teachers and students from inside and outside the university. This lecture aims to further promote in-depth research on the theoretical issues of international law by the School of Law of PKU and deepen the understanding of the interdisciplinary research methods of international law by the Chinese academic community. It has achieved a complete success.

Translated by: Ren Xipeng

Edited by: Cui Jiaxiong