Private governance raises important questions about democratic representation. Rule making is rarely based on electoral authorisation by those in whose name rules are made—typically a requirement for democratic legitimacy. This requires revisiting the role of representation in input legitimacy in transnational governance, which remains underdeveloped. Focussing on private labour governance, we contrast two approaches to the transnational representation of worker interests in global supply chains: non-governmental organisations providing representative claims versus trade unions providing representative structures. Studying the Bangladesh Accord for Fire and Building Safety, we examine their interaction along three dimensions of democratic representation: 1) creating presence, 2) authorisation, and 3) accountability to affected constituents. We develop a framework that explains when representative claims and structures become complementary but also how the politics of input legitimacy shape whose interests get represented. We conclude by deriving theoretical and normative implications for transnational representation and input legitimacy in global governance.

私人治理提出了关于民主代表的重要问题。规则制定很少基于以名义制定规则的人的选举授权——通常是对民主合法性的要求。这需要重新审视代表权在跨国治理中的投入合法性中的作用，这仍然不发达。着眼于私人劳工治理，我们对比了全球供应链中工人利益的跨国代表的两种方法：非政府组织提供代表权利要求与工会提供代表结构。通过研究《孟加拉国消防和建筑安全协议》，我们从民主代表的三个维度考察了它们之间的相互作用：1) 建立存在，2) 授权，以及 3) 对受影响的选民负责。谁的利益得到代表。最后，我们得出了全球治理中跨国代表性和输入合法性的理论和规范含义。