Examines the impact of the Rome Statute's complementarity principle on two states in which the International Criminal Court has intervened.

Prologue: in the line of fire; 1. Introduction: complementarity from the line of fire; 2. The Rome Statute: complementarity in its legal context; 3. Uganda: compromising complementarity; 4. Sudan: complementarity in a state of denial; 5. Paradoxes unravelled: weaknesses in complementarity's catalysing effect; 6. Conclusion: complementarity in the line of fire.

Sarah M. H. Nouwen is a university lecturer in law at the University of Cambridge. She is also a fellow of the Lauterpacht Centre for International Law and of Pembroke College.