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In the course of contemporary history, the process of establishing international law has enshrined two principles: the right of peoples to self-determination was enshrined in the 1945 UN Charter, while the principle of the inviolability of borders has been affirmed by international jurisprudence and implemented during major geopolitical upheavals (decolonization, implosion of communist regimes, agreements ending the wars in the former Yugoslavia...). However, these two principles are applied with variable geometry, not least because they prove to be contradictory. The example of the South Caucasus, with the evolution of the conflict concerning Nagorno-Karabakh, and consequently Armenia and Azerbaijan, illustrates in particular the past, present and future geopolitical issues raised by these two principles.