Abstract

This article describes the permanence of the chieftaincy in the Spain of today. Under a democratic system founded on the basis of an unfinished bourgeois revolution, the chief has managed to survive and spread their tentacles over the institutions. The case of Castilla y Leon reveals some of its peculiarities: the territorial disputes, the political complexity, corruption and the struggle for local power. This is old oligarchies with almost feudal modes of action which, amazingly, still part of the Spanish political system today.