KENNETH ANDERSON ON NGOs: “Accountability” as “Legitimacy”: Global Governance, Global Civil Society and the United Nations. NGOs, in general, have neither accountability nor legitimacy, for reasons that he discusses. “The essay focuses upon the latter, external accountability, and argues that the transformation of international NGOs into ‘global civil society’ signaled an ideological move with regards to legitimacy in the global community, one which asserted claims of ‘representativeness’ and not merely interest or expertise. The essay criticizes this legitimacy move, suggesting that it arises from mutual interests on the part of international NGOs and public international organizations such as the UN to confer legitimacy upon each other in the interest of promoting a mutually congenial form of global governance.”