Does the level of public support for democracy promotion tools vary with the characteristics of potential autocratic targets? We conduct an experimental conjoint design on a sample of 1,464 U.S. citizens that manipulates several core characteristics of potential autocratic targets. We then compare citizens' preferences with the cross-national evidence testing the determinants of democracy promotion success. We find that respondents support the use of coercive measures (military action and sanctions) precisely in contexts where, according to comparative research, these instruments are unlikely to foster democratization: Oil-rich, exclusionary, personalistic regimes with no elections, and with no ties to the U.S. Conversely, the characteristics driving public support for the use of democracy aid are more consistent with those favoring effectiveness: Autocratic regimes with multi-party elections and with links to the West. These findings have important policy implications by contributing to understand the micro-foundations of target selection.

The new coronavirus (Covid-19) epidemic, was first detected in Azerbaijan in February 2020. This epidemic, in addition to the impact on human health, has had a negative impact across the country for the economy, tourism, social relations and the conditions necessary for human life. International reports show that the group most at risk of the pandemic is the older population.The coronavirus pandemic has disproportionately affected this group, both in terms of hospitalizations and deaths, but also by the consequences of restrictions on social contact resulting in physical de-conditioning and worsened mental health (Briguglio, 2020 [1]) which caused them to be more vulnerable to the other socio-cultural and economic factors.I contend that the global research response to the COVID-19 pandemic has not been focused on the general needs of older people; rather research has focused on treatment more than prevention or rehabilitation, on hospital care rather than community care, on counting deaths rather than measuring function and on younger people rather than older people (Fraser, 2020 [2], Lithander, 2020 [3]). The consequences of the pandemic not only affect the health of the elderly, but also their psychological, physiological and social status. Thus, isolationist speeches against them, such as self-loathing, death phobia, loss of contact with peers, make life difficult for them. They thought that if they contracted the virus, their lives would end, their beliefs about overcoming the disease would weaken, and their failure to continue their social life as usual would lead to depression. Indeed, recently Soto-Perez- de-Celis (2020 [4]) has claimed that there are negative social media messages about COVID-19 and aging, often characterizing older adults as helpless and expendable individuals. Kluge (2020 [5]), WHO Regional Director for Europe, addressing journalists at a virtual press briefing said "I am reminding governments and authorities that all communities must be supported to deliver interventions to ensure older people have what they need. All

Scab is one of the most common and harmful diseases of cherries, found in all western regions (Ganja-Kazakh geographical zone of the country) of its cultivation. Mass damage to cherries by scab is often observed in wet years. The disease manifests itself on leaves and fruits causing a great harm to fruit-bearing cherry plantations. The harmfulness of cherry scab is expressed by a decrease in yield and a deterioration in its quality. The direct crop losses from scab on heavily affected cherry cultivars (for example, the cultivar "Shedraya") can reach 60-80%; the decrease in the yield of the first-class products is 90%. In the cherry orchards of Azerbaijan, the shortage of products from scab reaches 50-70%, and in the years of epiphytoties, the harvest may be completely absent. In the affected leaves, photosynthesis decreases, they fall prematurely. The sick fruits are delayed in development, wrinkled, which reduces the yield and degrades the quality of products. The article presents the results of the field research carried out on cherry scab (Fusicladium cerasi (Rabenh.) Sacc.) in the conditions of the western part of Azerbaijan in 2021-2022. In 2022, an assessment of the prevalence and intensity of scab in the region was done, and a scientifically based and improved control system was developed. For this purpose, the following preparations were tested in the fight against scab on cherries: Abiga Peak, VS (400 g/l copper oxychloride), Score, EC (250 g/l difenoconazole), Hom, SP (861 g/kg copper oxychloride), Chorus, FDG (750 g/kg cyprodinil) and a control without chemical treatment.

A growing literature on the “Immunity of Algeria from the Arab Spring” posits a strong relationship between the Algeria’s hydrocarbon wealth and its failed revolution in 2011. There is no doubt that Algerian regime succeeded to survive the tumultuous revolts, inter alia, by buying off the social stability with its hydrocarbon reserves at the time when the Arab revolutions were spreading across several North African and Middle Eastern countries, toppling several governments and transforming others. Nevertheless, against the backdrop of the dwindling oil prices the paper examines the vulnerability of Algerian “oil stability” and its exposure to potential wide-spread civil uprisings. Algerian government is facing a difficult dilemma: to choose between the financial stability and the social peace.