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The World Values Survey Association is pleased to announce the public symposium Author Meets Critics, dedicated to the recently published open-access book by Christian Welzel, Stefan Kruse, Lennart Brunkert, and Steven A. Brieger.

The event will take place on Saturday, 13 June 2026, from 10:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. CEST at SpinPlace, Rawa Club, University of Silesia in Katowice, Bankowa 5, Poland, and will also be available via online livestream.

Online participation:

Meeting ID: 942 2369 6289; Passcode: 546641

�ǿմ�ý the Book

Published in the Palgrave Studies in Maritime Politics and Security series, The Cool Water Effect advances a provocative and ambitious explanation of long-term civilizational development. The book argues that a specific geo-climatic configuration—what the authors term the “Cool Water Condition,” characterized by cool seasons, steady rainfall, and coastal proximity—created favorable conditions for decentralized resource management, local autonomy, self-governance, and ultimately the emergence of emancipatory social and political institutions.

Building on comparative historical analysis and extensive cross-national evidence, the authors revisit longstanding debates on Western exceptionalism, democratization, individualism, and human empowerment. Rather than attributing the rise of liberal-democratic institutions only to cultural, religious, or institutional factors, they emphasize the foundational role of geo-climatic conditions in shaping historical pathways of social development.

The symposium will provide an opportunity for critical discussion of the book’s theoretical arguments, empirical evidence, and broader implications for comparative sociology, political culture research, human development studies, and the analysis of long-term civilizational change.