Exposure to violence, not religious ideology, is a cause of extremism

Theology remains the prevalent scapegoat for extremism. Recent research however reveals that experience with violence is more significant as a preconditition for terrorist attacks, Manni Crone writes in this op-ed in The Independent.

Current pathways towards terrorism could therefore more usefully be described as a transition from one form of violence to another; from ordinary crime to political crime. This shift in understanding should change the way governments develop policies aimed at countering terror.