David D. Laitin

Laitin was born in Brooklyn, New York in 1945. 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. == References ==