Following a well-established tradition from the nineteenth century onwards, historians of the Spanish Monarchy have considered the 1640s as the major turning point in a long phase of an irremediable decline. The decisive decade would have then precipitated the dismantling of the Spanish Empire. Such a phenomenon was attributed to the failure of State centralization, in stark contrast to what happened in France. The provincial revolutions of Mexico, Catalonia, Portugal, Sicily and Naples has been interpreted as a peripheral resistance movement to the centralization promoted by the Count-Duke of Olivares. An opposite argument is now being made as it turns out that the crisis was actually caused by the inadequacies of the vice-regal system and an excessive decentralization. Far from being a reaction against a greater intrusion of Madrid in Mexico, Barcelona, Lisbon, Palermo and Naples, the crisis stemmed rather from the disengagement of the metropolis. The Count-Duke’s policy was to transform the Spanish monarchy into a confederate state of Viceroyalties under the Madrid guardianship. However, the weakness of the links between its rticle on members led the independence of Portugal and many other uprisings elsewhere. Far from rejecting the king, most subjects asked for a stronger royal presence and the dismissal of the compromised governors who were supposed to represent him.