Iivi Anna Masso is a political scientist, writer and editor living and working in Europe’s North. Born in Estonia, she has spent much of her life in Finland and has studied and worked in several places from Scandinavia to New York City. Currently based in Tallinn, IAM works as the editor of an Estonian foreign policy magazine, Diplomaatia (a publication of the ICDS).

Before that, she worked as a freelance writer and policy analyst, in 2001-2008 as a researcher and lecturer at the Depts of Political Science and Practical Philosophy of the University of Helsinki, specialising in contemporary political philosophy, democratic theories and human rights. She spent 2000–2001 in New York City as a visiting scholar at the New School for Social Research and 1999–2000 in Budapest as a doctoral student at the Central European University, studying social theory, international relations and comparative politics.

Iivi got her PhD in Political Science from the University of Helsinki in 2006 (Dissertation: Democratic Legitimacy and the Politics of Rights, Helsinki University Press). She has published academic articles in several Finnish and Estonian journals and books. She has an MPhil in Political Science from the CEU (1999) and MA in Philosophy from the University of Helsinki (1997). (MA thesis: Hannah Arendt om totalitarismen, Helsinki University e-publications)

Iivi has contibuted to Finnish and Estonian media publications as a freelance writer since 1993. She has done radio programmes for the Finnish public broadcaster Yle and writes regular columns for the Estonian daily Postimees (from 2007-2011 also to the Finnish online newspaper Uusi Suomi). Her topics of interest include foreign policy, political philosophy, democratization and democratic legitimacy, human rights and freedom of speech, and she follows closely the politics at home in Estonia and Finland.

IAM is politically liberal, defying rigid ideological divisions between ‘left’ and ‘right’, she supports liberal democracy and humanist values. She believes in the right of peoples to protect and cherish their cultural heritage, while remaining a friend (and often a member) of minorities and a cosmopolitan at heart.