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Inspired by the insights of Franz Kafka, this article explores the problem of 'distance' in a UK bank, particularly by focusing on one of its back-office processing centres. Distance refers to a way of not seeing those below us in the hierarchy; this might mean that we act in ways that display little thought or concern for the experiences of others. It is argued that the 'distance' created between human beings through bureaucratic ways of organizing is potentially debilitating. Academic accounts often strive for objectivity and, in doing so, they tend to stand at a distance from the suffering of those they seek to represent. By contrast, fiction elucidates distance in a more emotional, passionate and, therefore, engaged and engaging way. This article draws on Kafka because his work is subversive and it highlights the need to create ways of organizing and being that promote empathy with 'others'. Nevertheless, this is not to suggest that distance can be eliminated because it is fundamental to how we develop our sense of self and it is ingrained within processes of rationalization. The article is distinctive because although numerous accounts have used fiction to theoretically analyse organizations few have sought to use fiction to analyse empirical material.

George, AM orcid:0000-0002-6308-3558; Lambropoulos, VE orcid:0000-0002-1818-777X ; Addressing student attrition rates is a crucial aspect of tertiary education policy and practice. In terms of practice, student retention is intrinsically linked to quality of teaching. There is also now an urgency as to the issue given that the Commonwealth government recently announced its intention to make university funding conditional upon performance-based metrics, including student retention rates. The correlation between academic and social integration, institutional attachment, and student attrition rates in traditional face-to-face study mode was established long ago (Tinto, 1975). According to Tinto, student integration is developed through peer associations and interaction with faculty. It results in a collective affiliation and minimises the risk of attrition (Tinto, 1975: 107). However, the evidence of such correlations in the online tertiary landscape is a relatively new terrain. Drop-out rates for online students are more than double that for face-to-face or blended modes (Australian Government, 2017). Therefore, online learning carries with it an acute risk for student attrition (Bawa, 2016). Other issues facing online tertiary students include isolation and low motivation (Bawa, 2016; Milheim, 2012). It is the isolation factor that consistently features in scholarship on attrition rates for online students (Bawa, 2016; Rush, 2013; Rovai & Downey, 2010; Rovai, 2003). Low student motivation ties back into issues of lack of support and relatedness (Chen & Jang, 2010). Rush's 2014 study of online tertiary students found that isolation and disconnection were key indicators of student dissatisfaction. Rush's findings tended to support Tinto's theory that increased academic and social interaction lowered attrition. She also found that online learners were less autonomous than Moore's (1975) early work would suggest. It is against this background that this paper explores the issue of student isolation amongst a cohort of online students with the objective of informing teaching strategies and academic professional development. In particular, we benchmark Rush's findings against data collected via a 2018 survey of undergraduate students in the Bachelor of Laws program at CQUniversity. Preliminary analyses confirm Rush's findings, with isolation as a key indicator of online learner dissatisfaction, and lower student autonomy. This latter point has implications for online teachers using the 'flipped classroom' model.

Much of the analysis of the anti-globalisation movement has focused on the degree to which the Internet has played a crucial role in contemporary social movements. It is commonly argued that the net helps create 'virtual communities' that use the medium to exchange information, co-ordinate activities, and build and extend political support. Much of the commentary on the web as a means of political mobilisation stresses the degree to which the net compresses both space and time. Equally important in this view is the deterritorialised nature of on-line protest and diminution in importance of 'place' in current anti-globalisation campaigns. Our examination of the antiglobalisation movement in Australia leads us to a different conclusion. While the Internet does indeed compress time, it compresses space in a different and indeed quite variable way. This paper examines the way in which Australians protested against the MAI and the WTO meetings in Seattle and shows the differences in the nature of protest in each case. We conclude that crucial to an understanding of the differences was the considerable difference in the importance of 'place' in each case.

There is a growing sense that US military effectiveness has been on the wane in recent years. Is this the case? If so, what are the reasons for the decay in American combat performance? We first examine the available systematic evidence for American military decline, showing that the United States has indeed experienced a drop in the quality of outcomes of its military contests. Observers have offered a number of explanations for declining American military success, most predominantly an increase in intrastate conflict after the Second World War. After showing that a decline in performance is observed even after fully excluding intrastate conflict, we propose an alternative explanation: the increasing distance from home at which the United States has been fighting. Distance is tyrannical: it saps military strength and increases the cost of contests, even as it reduces US expertise and motivations to prevail. We then show that the distance from home at which the United States fights is the best predictor of the outcome of the conflict. We conclude by noting some avenues for future research and policy implications as the world returns to great power competition.

AbstractThere is a growing sense that US military effectiveness has been on the wane in recent years. Is this the case? If so, what are the reasons for the decay in American combat performance? We first examine the available systematic evidence for American military decline, showing that the United States has indeed experienced a drop in the quality of outcomes of its military contests. Observers have offered a number of explanations for declining American military success, most predominantly an increase in intrastate conflict after the Second World War. After showing that a decline in performance is observed even after fully excluding intrastate conflict, we propose an alternative explanation: the increasing distance from home at which the United States has been fighting. Distance is tyrannical: it saps military strength and increases the cost of contests, even as it reduces US expertise and motivations to prevail. We then show that the distance from home at which the United States fights is the best predictor of the outcome of the conflict. We conclude by noting some avenues for future research and policy implications as the world returns to great power competition.