ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the Carl Schmitt's spatial history of modernity, by plotting the relationship between the history of modernity, the emergence and development of global space and this 'globalization' has on the nature of political order. It examines two inter-related conceptual registers: a mythical account of the relationship between geo-elemental geographies, social formations and an eschatological Christian conception of history. Schmitt develops an understanding of human history, forged by radical shifts in the conception of space and related spatial practices, described as 'spatial revolutions', and an attendant account of modernity with the emergence of global space. The chapter focuses on Schmitt's account of the spatial history of modernity, as presented in land and sea and the Nomos in particular, is the distinction between land and sea. The two geo-elements determine two distinct forms of human existence, one terrestrial and the other maritime, each with its own set of concepts of power, war and law.
