Delegation theory in its broadest sense is the process by which an authority shifts some of its responsibilities onto another entity with the view of achieving the best performance in terms of its stated aims and purposes.
Those in favour of the creation of ICBs have primarily focused on interest rates and have argued that democratic pressures tend to have an inflationary effect as governments will often be tempted to advocate lower interest rates immediately prior to an election so as to manufacture short term booms in the economy and boost their support - but to the detriment of long term economic health.
Andrew Moravcsik is perhaps the most prominent intergovernmentalist theorist who has written on delegation and his work can essentially be thought of as applying the principal-agent model in a manner which stresses minimal agency loss.
Not only is this explained as a mechanism to ensure member states comply with treaty obligations, but employing similar logic as that used in the ICB debates he makes a defence against democratic deficit arguments which advocate a directly elected European Commission.
In Spain, the term is used in a stricter sense in order to designate the administration of some provinces on behalf of the central authority, be it the King or, in modern times, a democratically elected Parliament.
The delegations (in Aragonese deputazions, in Catalan diputacions, in Basque aldundia and in Galician deputación) have territorial character and their function is to manage the economic and administrative interests of the provinces.
The General Meetings are the parliaments of each historical territory whose members (junteros or solicitors) are chosen by popular voting, expressed during local elections.