Résumé : During 2014–15, the South Caucasus entered a new phase of its post-Soviet development. Georgia’s conclusion of an Association Agreement with the European Union in June 2014 and Armenia’s accession to the Russian-led Eurasian Economic Union in January 2015 crowned a decade of efforts to engage the South Caucasus with the parallel integration projects.Conflict in the South Caucasus has been an important driver of these integration processes. The 2008 Georgia–Russia war provided a particularly strong impetus both to European Union and Russian efforts to link the South Caucasus to wider regional projects. In 2009, the EU established its Eastern Partnership to strengthen relations with its eastern neighbours, including the states of the South Caucasus. Since Vladimir Putin’s return in 2012 as the Russian president, Eurasian integration has been a priority for Russia. The EEU is seen as the means to establish Russia as an economic and political centre in an emerResolution of the South Caucasus conflicts is a key issue for political stability and economic prosperity in the region. During 2015–16, as the EU looks to reshape its role in the South Caucasus through reviews of its European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP) and its European Security Strategy (ESS), it will need to identify how it can build effective strategies to resolve the protracted conflicts in the absence of a membership prospect.To achieve this, the EU should pursue a twin track approach to the conflicts of the South Caucasus. Firstly, there is no alternative to increasing political and diplomatic engagement to mitigate conflict dynamics. Secondly, the EU should focus on lessening the destabilizing aspects of EU–Russia competition in the South Caucasus, including around the two integration projects.