The overarching objective of POLCA is to contribute to global and national efforts in understanding the challenges of promoting good governance and the rule of law in non-Western societies. This will be achieved by designing and implementing an interdisciplinary research and training program focused on “alternative institutions and norms.” More specifically, POLCA is built around three interconnected goals: 1) To collect original empirical data and produce new theoretical insights on alternative legal and governance institutions and norms in non-Western contexts; 2) To engage with and contribute to relevant theoretical debates within law, development and governance (LDG) studies and political economy literature and thereby advance scholarly discussion on the role of non-Western institutions and norms in legal and governance reform processes; and 3) To contribute to the global law, development and governance agenda by providing strategic intelligence and policy insights for international organisations, development agencies, decision-makers, researchers and practitioners inside and outside the EU on possible ways to improve the rule of law and governance in non-Western societies. These goals will be accomplished through a multi-sited, interdisciplinary, and multisectoral research and staff exchange program involving 30 leading universities and non-academic institutions across Europe, North America, Central Asia, the Middle East and East Asia.