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The chapter explores the image of the Soviet female spy in a variety of Bond films. Representations of Soviet women in these films are as intense as they are stereotypical. Tatiana Romanova (From Russia With Love, 1963), Anya ­Amasova (The Spy Who Loved Me, 1977), Pola Ivanova (A View to a Kill, 1985), the murderous dominatrix Xenia Onatopp (GoldenEye, 1995) and ­Natalya ­Simonova (GoldenEye) embody a combination of contradictory qualities. They are tough, strong, intellectual, successful and dangerous yet also feminine, ­sexual, beautiful and exotic. The presence of the dangerous communist seductress in Bond films petered out after the end of the Soviet Union.

This chapter also examines the origins of each of the stereotypes which seem to be a curious mixture of fantasy and reality of the fear and desire of the Western male gaze yet combined with elements of the Soviet ideology (for instance, the war on gender stereotypes in the Soviet Union and the heavy ideological emphasis on gender equality).

Johanna Harwood was the first, and until Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s hiring on No Time to Die, the only woman screenwriter to work on the Bond films. Harwood was there at the beginning, gaining credits for her work on Dr No (1962) and From Russia with Love (1963), but her chequered experiences of trying to gain leverage within the film industry as a writer, having to contend with institutionalised as well as individualised sexism, prompted her eventual decision to leave Bond, her former employer Harry Saltzman, and the film industry behind. Her story not only provides valuable insights into the genesis of Bond on screen, it also shows the importance of incorporating production studies into discussions of gender and James Bond films, thinking about off-screen as well as on-screen female representation. Beyond Bond, it also illuminates some of the obstacles faced by women trying to build a career in the film industry in the 1960s (not that their problems are limited to that decade) and how film production labour done by women frequently goes uncredited or is discredited, despite its often formative importance.

This paper ' s aim is to provide an overview of the challenges and solutions to obtaining Russian language materials. Despite the challenges presented by inaccurate or incomplete bibliographic citations and multiple methods of transliterating titles from the Cyrillic to the Latin alphabets, many excellent sources of assistance are available to ILL staff.

The author relies on his extensive professional experience in locating such materials. He provides a broad survey of library collections, Russian language subject specialists, and online book purveyors who are both willing and able to provide assistance.

Locating and obtaining Russian language materials via ILL is not as difficult as it appears. Excellent Russian language library collections in the US, Russia, and Eastern Europe as well as online booksellers all provide discovery tools, delivery services, and payment methods that are readily accessible to ILL staff.

All ILL staff who need to obtain Russian language materials on behalf of their users will find this article especially useful.

Through all the villains that James Bond has encountered on his globe-trotting adventures – from Dr No to Auric Goldfinger, Drax to Le Chiffre and Rosa Klebb to Xenia Onatopp – one villain has remained a constant threat to both Bond and world security. Whether hiding behind a corrugated screen, living on a mountain top lair, working from a hollowed-out volcanic rocket site, or sitting in a wheelchair, Ernst Stavro Blofeld has proved time and time again to be a thorn in Bond’s side.

This chapter will investigate the changing appearances of Blofeld across the Eon Productions’ film franchise. It will consider the concept of Blofeld as Bond’s alter-ego, whilst offering in-depth analysis of just how – and why – this master-nemesis remains firmly rooted in Bond’s filmic adventures, whilst cementing his position as the villain most associated with the series.

The enduring popular image of James Bond is (in the words of the theatrical trailer for Dr No) ‘the gentleman agent with the licence to kill’. Yet the screen Bond is hardly a hero in the manner of gentlemanly archetypes such as Cary Grant and David Niven (reputedly Ian Fleming’s preferred choice for the role). This chapter will explore how the image of Bond in the films has changed over time both in response to wider social and cultural archetypes of masculinity and due to the different performance styles of the various actors to play the role: Sean Connery, whose rough-hewn Scottishness can be seen as a means of representing the ‘otherness’ of Fleming’s character (‘Bond always knew there was something alien and un-English about himself’); George Lazenby, whose one-off appearance as an emotionally damaged Bond in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service anticipated later portrayals of the character; the parodic variant of Roger Moore; the brooding Byronic hero of Timothy Dalton; the ‘Milk Tray Man’ charm of Pierce Brosnan; and Daniel Craig, whose combination of bull-in-a-china-shop physicality and vulnerable masculinity (literally so in Casino Royale) has by common consent successfully transformed Bond from a cartoon superman into a twenty-first century action hero.

On 2 September 2015, it was announced that Tom Ford would again be ‘dressing James Bond’, Daniel Craig, in Spectre (Mendes, 2015) after tailoring his suits for Quantum of Solace (Forster, 2008) and Skyfall (Mendes, 2012). Ford noted that ‘James Bond epitomises the Tom Ford man in his elegance, style and love of luxury. It is an honour to move forward with this iconic character’.

  With the press launch of ‘Bond 25’(and now titled No Time to Die) on 25 April 2019, it is reasonable to speculate that Ford will once again be employed as James Bond’s tailor of choice, given that it is likely to be Craig’s last outing as 007. Previous actors playing the role of James Bond have all had different tailors. Sean Connery was tailored by Anthony Sinclair and George Lazenby by Dimitro ‘Dimi’ Major. Roger Moore recommended his own personal tailors Cyril Castle, Angelo Vitucci and Douglas Hayward. For Timothy Dalton, Stefano Ricci provided the suits, and Pierce Brosnan was dressed by Brioni. Therefore, this chapter will analyse the role of tailoring within the James Bond films, and how this in turn contributes to the look and character of this film franchise more generally. It aims to understand how different tailors have contributed to the masculinity of Bond: an agent dressed to thrill as well as to kill.

The purpose of this article is to analyze the initial public offerings (IPOs) of Russian companies in the context of the country's investment attractiveness and the readiness of its companies to list on stock exchanges, domestically and/or internationally. The analysis takes a balanced approach. It recognizes the positive aspects from the development of Russia's stock markets and the launched and planned IPOs of Russian companies, but underscores reasons for caution in assessing this developing situation, emphasizing the need to maintain a critical perspective. The article is intended to help determine, in the sphere of IPOs at least, whether Russia is currently, or is on the road to becoming, as solid as a BRIC.

Drawing upon publicly available material from English‐ and Russian‐language sources, the authors discuss the development of the two Russian stock exchanges and analyze the progress that Russian companies have made in successfully completing IPOs on Russian and foreign stock exchanges. The paper also analyzes the barriers faced by Russian companies in launching IPOs and/or attracting investment, including global factors, country‐level conditions, and individual firm characteristics.

The results of the analysis indicate that the Russian stock exchanges have developed reasonably well over the two decades since perestroika. Correspondingly, a substantial number of Russian companies have mounted successful IPOs not only on the Russian stock exchanges but also on international exchanges, particularly the London Stock Exchange. Yet the number of successful IPOs relative to the number of planned IPOs has been much smaller than the global average. The latter finding is attributed to Russia's particular investment problems, which extend beyond global economic forces, specifically the country‐level and firm‐specific factors, both of which heighten the risk for investors.

The authors' review of the literature has uncovered no journal articles covering the circumstances surrounding the IPOs of Russian firms. Additionally, the available sources seldom provide a balanced view, much less a critical view of the IPO landscape in the context of Russia's overall circumstances, particularly risk. Thus, this article, with its critical but balanced perspective, allows for a relatively objective analysis for theorists as well as investors as they approach the topic of Russian company IPOs, domestically or internationally.

There has been a financial revolution lead by technology firms over the past decade. Many large established technology giants, from Google, Apple to Amazon in the US are entering the financial service industry. Smaller start-ups, in particular, robotic advisors, a.k.a. robo-advisors have been taking market shares from traditional asset management firms. In China, firms like Tencent and Alibaba have created a whole new field of online finance. The center of our study is a critical examination of the essential components of the financial innovation over the past 10 years. Mobile banking was the beginning, followed by trading, investment, and insurance business. Artificial intelligence and machine learning are included for discussion in this chapter. Our goal is to develop a thorough understanding of the art and science of financial innovation, from both bottom-up market indicators and a top-down holistic view. Then, we apply to the situation in Russia. We want to demonstrate that the technological changes are likely to have a significant impact on Russia’s sustainable finance and banking development.

Throughout the many decades of Bond films, 007’s patriotism is much assumed and never questioned. However, how does the English male spy display devotion to Queen and Country? James Bond is an invaluable source when questioning the attitudes towards patriotism and identity over the last 50 years. For example, is his display of manliness patriotic? More importantly, how has the exhibition of the subjective nature of patriotism adapted from an imperial to a more modern British identity? This chapter will examine how the actors who have depicted Bond have worked within the ever-changing British patriotic codes of these international movies.

From Dr No in 1962 to Spectre in 2015 the opening themes for James Bond movies have always played an important role in marketing, audience expectation and reception. Whether instrumental or sung, brassy or orchestral, upbeat or mellow, the music and/or lyrics, alongside innovative title sequences, function as key signifiers of gender representation in the ongoing series of spy adventures. Bond’s suave machismo, for example, is immediately set out in the opening titles for Dr No created by Maurice Binder. The iconic image of Bond viewed through a gun barrel as a shot rings out, is punctuated by Monty Norman’s theme music with its swinging brass and the tough, machine-gun like sound of electric guitar being played fiercely with a plectrum. Although this theme became synonymous with the character, there was a shift towards songs written specifically to tie-in with subsequent film titles although the lyrics rarely had anything to do with the narratives of the film. The title sequences themselves also became more provocative, invariably focussing on silhouetted, naked or semi-naked female bodies or their component parts alongside gun barrels and bullets, albeit in a highly stylised and artistic manner. This chapter, then, will consider how the theme music functions with the opening credits sequences in relation to the representation of women, race and the image of Bond himself and how the character has changed over time.