Projection operator techniques have been applied to derive a coupled set of exact kinetic equations describing microscopic density fluctuations in an infinite, fully‐ionized, classical plasma in thermal equilibrium. The time dependence of the nonlocal collision terms in these equations is then approximated in such a way as to yield the correct short and long time behavior of density fluctuations, while allowing the explicit calculation of the dynamic structure factorS (k ,&ohgr;)characterizing electron density fluctuations in classical plasmas of arbitrary density. This theory is then applied to analyze light scattering from dense, collision‐dominated plasmas, and the results of these calculations are found to compare favorably with both experimental data as well as with earlier theories (at least in the regimes in which these earlier theories are valid).