ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book traces the evolution of the Ronald W. Reagan administration's public rationale for its action, as articulated first by the President himself and then by a succession of government officials. It examines the antecedents and course of the American action, recounting both the triumphs and tragedies of Grenada's New Jewel Movement, as well as those of America's armed forces. The book shows that the foreign policy context within which President Reagan's invasion decision was made, considering formative events in both the Jimmy Carter and Reagan administrations. It offers provisional conclusions about the Reagan administration's general attitude toward international law, the role played by law in the Grenada decision, and the conformity of the administration's legal justification with the jus ad hellum as it has been commonly rendered.
