Carolina Bescansa

• Politician
• Political scientist

Carolina Bescansa
Member of the Spanish Congress of Deputies
In office 13 January 2016 –5 March 2019

Carolina Bescansa is a Spanish politician and political scientist who co-founded the political party Podemos. She was a representative for Madrid in the Spanish Congress of Deputies from 2016 to 2019.

Academic work

Bescansa is from Santiago de Compostela. ^[1] She studied Sociology and Political Science in Grenada and Madrid, focusing specifically on political sociology and the study of constitutional law. ^{[1] [2]} After graduating in 1994, she did a specialist degree in constitutional law at the Centre for Political and Constitutional Studies. ^[3] She then became a doctoral student at the Complutense University of Madrid, and in the 1999–2000 school year she participated in an Education Abroad Program at the University of California, San Diego. ^[3]

In 1995, she began to teach political science classes at the Complutense University of Madrid, where she became a member of the political science faculty specializing in the methodology of political science research. ^[3]

Political career

Bescansa was a co-founder of the political party Podemos, officially registering it as a political party on March 11, 2014 together with Pablo Iglesias Turrión and Juan Carlos Monedero. ^[1]

In 2014, Bescansa was not on the party list of Podemos, but that year she was elected to the Citizens' Council of the party with about 85% of the votes. ^[4] This made her the most powerful woman and one of the three most powerful people in the party organization. ^[5] Bescansa also used her expertise as a political science methodologist in her partisan work, heading the party's political analysis unit and analysing its surveys. ^[5]

In the 2015 Spanish general election, Bescansa was ranked second on the Podemos party list to the Congress of Deputies for the Madrid constituency, and she won the seat. ^[6] She launched a candidacy for President of the Congress of Deputies, but lost the race to Patxi López. ^[7]

In 2017, Bescansa publicly split with the leadership of Podemos, and left her positions within the party. ^[8] She was subsequently affiliated with a coalition of Más País and Equo. ^[8]

References

1. Villar, C. (30 May 2014). "Una gallega en el origen de Podemos". La Opinión (in Spanish). Retrieved 2 September 2020.
2. Patiño, José María (16 October 2014). "Bescansa y la teoría del paquete". Cadena SER (in Spanish). Retrieved 2 September 2020.
3. "Carolina Bescansa Hernández" (in Spanish). Complutense University of Madrid. Retrieved 2 September 2020.
4. "Resultados Completos" (in Spanish). Podemos. 2014. Archived from the original on 17 November 2014. Retrieved 2 September 2020.
5. "Los 62 de Podemos". El País (in Spanish). 15 November 2014. Retrieved 2 September 2020.
6. "Listado de los diputados electos en los comicios de hoy" (in Spanish). El Confidencial. 21 December 2015. Retrieved 2 September 2020.
7. Cruz, Marisa (13 January 2016). "Patxi López se estrena como presidente del Congreso pidiendo "diálogo y entendimiento"". El Mundo (in Spanish). Retrieved 2 September 2020.
8. Carvajal, Álvaro (2 February 2017). "Carolina Bescansa dimite de sus cargos en Podemos, distanciada de Iglesias, y avisa: "Van a chocar dos trenes"". El Mundo (in Spanish). Retrieved 2 September 2020.