Written by leading specialists from Europe and the US, this unique text presents a unified view of political delegation, bringing together a wide range of literature to provide a complete and synthetic analysis of delegation in political systems.

Preface 1. Delegation in Contemporary Democracies: Introduction Part 1: The Standard Chain of Delegation 2. The (Moral) Hazards of Parliamentary Democracy 3. Delegation and Accountability in Parliamentary Democracies: Smallness, Proximity and Shortcuts 4. A Theory of Efficient Delegation 5. A Delegation Theory for Explaining the Bureaucratization of Public Administrations Part 2: The Next Steps of Delegation: Independent Agencies, Interest Organizations and the European Union 6. Delegation to Independent Regulatory Agencies in Western Europe: Credibility, Political Uncertainty, and Diffusion 7. Delegation in the distributive policy arena: the case of research policy 8. Consequences of Legitimising Independent Regulatory Agencies in Contemporary Democracies: Theoretical Scenarios 9. Whose Agents? Non-Governmental Organizations in Policy-Proposing Commissions: Agents of Government or Opposition Parties? 10. Delegation in the European Union: Debates and Research Agenda 11. Delegation in Contemporary Democracies: Concluding Remarks