Delegation in contemporary democracies Delegation in contemporary democracies : introduction Dietmar Braun and Fabrizio Gilardi The (moral) hazards of parliamentary democracy Kaare Strom Wolfgang C. Müller Torbjörn Bergman Delegation and accountability in parliamentary democracies : smallness proximity and shortcuts Patrick Dumont and Frédéric Varone A theory of efficient delegation David Epstein and Sharyn OHalloran A delegation theory for explaining the bureaucratization of public administrations Victor Lapuente Giné Delegation to independent regulatory agencies in Western Europe : credibility political uncertainty and diffusion Fabrizio Gilardi Delegation in the distributive policy arena : the case of research policy Dietmar Braun Consequences of legitimising independent regulatory agencies in contemporary democracies : theoretical scenarios Gül Sosay Whose agents : non governmental organisations in policy proposing Commissions : agents of government or opposition parties Peter Munk Christiansen & Asbjorn Sonne Nrgaard Delegation in the European Union : debates and research agenda Fabio Franchino Delegation in contemporary democracies : concluding remarks Dietmar Braun and Fabrizio Gilardi