David D. Laitin

David D. Laitin (born in 1945) is the James T. Watkins IV and Elise V. Watkins Professor of Political Science in the School of Humanities and Science at Stanford University. He is a comparative politics scholar who has written works on civil war, ethnic identity, culture and nationalism. He is known for his application of rational choice to the study of ethnic conflict,

He was awarded the Johan Skytte Prize in 2021. He is an elected member of the National Academy of Sciences. Before joining Stanford University, he was a professor in the political science department at the University of Chicago.

He received his Ph.D. in Political Science from University of California at Berkeley, where he did his dissertation under the guidance of Ernst Haas, During his time at Berkeley, Laitin served with the Peace Corps in Somalia and Grenada. Laitin has said that this decision was in part motivated by seeking to avoid the Vietnam draft. Laitin's experiences in Somalia influenced his dissertation and his 1977 book Politics, Language and Thought: The Somali Experience.