Kerry said during the debate he would never grant another country a veto on U.S. actions to protect itself, but he said the decision to go to war should pass a "global test" of legitimacy.

CNN: Rice defends Bush's debate comments

Cultural legitimacy is something that Los Angeles, despite its global popular influence, has never enjoyed.

WSJ: Michael Govan, the Man Behind LACMA | WSJ. Magazine May 2013

Even before the current global recession, the mounting costs of international justice and questions over legitimacy had begun to bother governments.

BBC: Ten years, $900m, one verdict: Does the ICC cost too much?

In addition to providing critical capital and helping underwrite both healthy and faltering SOEs, the listings provide legitimacy for China's centrally planned economy and create a global constituency with a vested interest in ensuring that these companies not only survive, but prosper.

CENTERFORSECURITYPOLICY: Center For Security Policy

Based upon this record, a President Kerry's idea of a "smarter war" would be one in which, by his own admission, the "legitimacy" of America's self-defensive actions would be determined by a "global test" - the decisive votes evidently to be cast by countries suborned by commercial ties, strategic relations or corrupt connections with our enemies.

CENTERFORSECURITYPOLICY: The choice