BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | Study tracks 'pathways to terror'

The description of a terrorist this technique throws up is far removed from the caricatures often seen in the Western media.

"The work on pathways into terrorism indicates that it comes out of a social process; it comes out of a series of contacts that terrorists have with other individuals," Professor Canter told BBC News.

"These may be friends and associates; they may be members of their family. But more typically, they will be some sort of person they look up to, who may be a senior individual within a terrorist organisation, or maybe a teacher that they feel provides them with some feelings of self-worth and significance if they will take part in violent activity."

The professor said there were two main pathways into terror - through attachment to particular social groups who are on the fringes of terrorism; and through strong ideals or spiritual beliefs. These two routes could be further subdivided.

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the study had lessons for how the authorities should work to block off the pathways to a life of violence.

"At the broader level, everything has to be done to undermine the idea that individuals think of themselves solely in terms of any particular group of sub-group - be that fundamental Muslims or supporters of a football club . Once people only think of themselves in those terms, then that sets the seeds for conflict."

For this reason, he said, there were dangers presented by the idea of faiths schools, particularly the strict style that preached separatism, such as a number of Pakistan's Islamic maddrassas.

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