Democracy promotion between the “political” and the “developmental” approach: US and German policies towards Belarus

Following the end of the East–West conflict, the global spread of liberal democracy became an important strategic objective in world politics. Primarily, the foreign policy of the US and EU (states) demonstrated the relevance of democracy promotion abroad. While Western democracies' policy objectives regarding democracy promotion go well together, an obvious difference between their approaches in this area has often been shown: a largely “political” approach of the US vs a “developmental” one of European states. Accordingly, this article focuses on recent tendencies in democracy promotion by comparing US and German policies in the European post-Soviet space in order to investigate the expression of both approaches in a strategically important region. It thereby analyses the pivotal case of Belarus, which presents a great challenge to democracy promoters. The study concludes that external democracy promotion in that part of the world does not show a clear differentiation between the two approaches, and suggests a few potential explanations to be explored in future research.     

Autopsy artifact created by the Revivant AutoPulse resuscitation device

In certain cases, the evaluation and correct identification of resuscitative artifacts is critical to the correct diagnosis and determination of the cause and manner of death. Resuscitative artifacts can resemble homicidal or accidental injury and thus possibly be misinterpreted. Occasionally, new technologies and/or medical procedures will create original and/or distinctive artifacts. In 2003, the San Francisco Fire Department emergency personnel began field-testing the Revivant AutoPulse, an automated chest compression device. This device is currently being used in two other counties in the San Francisco Bay Area as well as regions of Florida, Virginia, and Ohio. We present three cases of resuscitative artifact that could be potentially confused with homicidal or accidental injury. These cases illustrate resuscitative artifacts, specifically lateral chest and horizontally oriented upper abdomen cutaneous abrasions created by this automated chest compression device.