NSM: Who's accountable? What ideology are we embracing?

In the study of new social movements (NSMs), one of the more intriguing facts about them ( at least, to me) is that they exist as anti-systemic organizations which are not necessarily separatist by nature. That NSMs act outside of the government (in order to retain their independance) while attempting to reform or address imbalances in society caused by either (i) inadequate legislation or (ii) adequate legislation but little real implimentation. Famous movements often cited are stuff like "Greenpeace (which i am opposed to for a plethora of reasons)", the Black Civil Rights Movement, so on and so forth. Now, combine this with another fact about NSMs, that participation in these movements are not class or self-interest motivated, but are based on ideological grounds, for the good of society as a whole. The general idea you get here is that NSMs are considered to be good for society, because (i) the fact that their membership is broad and diverse (spread out across whole spectrum of society) represents humanity "moving beyond" self and seeking ways to address issues of inequality or other issues which have significant impact on human life in general , (ii) NSMs provide a sort of overwatch role on governments, by ensuring that there is a platform for discussion of issues an government might not wish to address, to apply political pressure upon governments from , (iii) social movements of the past have tangibly shaped the formation of the political systems in place today, NSMs expected to do the same for our immediate future.

Now this all sounds bright and dandy, but then a few issues immediately pop to mind. (i)Who's watching the watchdog? and (ii) Exactly what ideology does an NSM espouse? Which culture influences it? Is it a form of cultural imperalisation? and most importantly (iii) If a vehicle of political pressure exists outside of the official system, does that not open up the state to undue external influences? There are quite a few more rotating around but it's being quite hard already to sort through my brain, i prefer not to confuse myself further. I'm sure these are pretty basic questions and the answers are floating around upthere somewhere.