Despite decades of United Nations-led negotiations between the Greek and Turkish Cypriot communities, a settlement deal on Cyprus has remained out of reach. The latest round of talks between Nicos Anastasiades and Mustafa Akinci collapsed at Crans-Montana (Switzerland) in July 2017. Although it seemed that a solution was within reach, the two sides were not able to come to an agreement and clashed on a number of key issues, including security and guarantees. At this Policy Briefing, James Ker-Lindsay, a leading expert on the Cyprus problem, shed some light on why the settlement talks broke down in Crans-Montana, what has happened since then and what could be the different options for the future, including looking at what a failure to find a solution could mean for the future of the island and the broader region.