 Casino Royale was written after , and was heavily influenced by , the Second World War ; Britain was still an imperial power , and the Western and Eastern blocs were engaged in the Cold War . The journalist William Cook observes that with the decline in power of the British Empire , " Bond pandered to Britain 's inflated and increasingly insecure self @-@ image , flattering us with the fantasy that Britannia could still punch above her weight . " The cultural historians Janet Woollacott and Tony Bennett agree , and consider that " Bond embodied the imaginary possibility that England might once again be placed at the centre of world affairs during a period when its world power status was visibly and rapidly declining . " 
