Great legal traditions have shaped international law; they have also characterized major geopolitical units. These major legal systems struggle within the international law, fighting or ignoring one another with a movement similar to tectonic plates – these plates sliding over the “magma of power.” The “schizo-American,” the “kanto-European,” and the “Sino-sovereignist” plates are different fromeach other because of their conceptions of sovereignty. However, the confrontation of these plates will determine a changing international system in the 21st century; within this context, the kanto-European plate seems to be the most fragile.