Tymen J. van der Ploeg was Professor of Law at Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam from 1992 until 2012. His research focuses on the relations of NGOs with governments, from a national and comparative perspective.

Part I. European Law and Policy Pertaining to Civil Society: 1. Introduction Tymen J. van der Ploeg, Wino J. M. van Veen and Cornelia R. M. Versteegh; 2. Civil society in Europe and the European Convention on Human Rights Wino J. M. van Veen; 3. Civil society and civil society organisations in the institutional and legal framework of the European Union Cornelia R. M. Versteegh; Part II. National Laws Pertaining to Civil Society: A Comparative Overview and Evaluation: 4. Thematic survey of civil society law in twelve European countries Tymen J. van der Ploeg, Wino J. M. van Veen and Cornelia R. M. Versteegh; 5. Minimum and optimum norms for legislation on CSOs in Europe Tymen J. van der Ploeg, Wino J. M. van Veen and Cornelia R. M. Versteegh; Part III. Country Essays on Civil Society Law: Introduction; 6. The legal context for civil society organisations in Belgium Marleen Denef and Sarah Verschaeve; 7. Legal framework for civil society in the Czech Republic Katerina Ronovská and Vlastimil Vitoul; 8. Civil society organisations in England and Wales Mary Synge; 9. Legal aspects of civil society organisations and their relation with government: Germany Thomas von Hippel; 10. Legal aspects of civil society organisations and their relation with government: Greece Kalliroi Pantelidou and Dimitrios Vogiatzis; 11. Legal aspects of civil society organisations and their relation with government: Hungary Eszter Hartay; 12. Legal aspects of civil society organisations and their relation with government: Italy Christina Vaccario and Gian Paolo Barbetta; 13. Legal aspects of civil society organisations and their relation with government: The Netherlands Helen Overes; 14. Law regarding civil society organisations in Poland Anna Krajewska and Grzegorz Makowski; 15. Legislation on voluntary associations in Russia Irina Novichenko; 16. Spanish law on civil society: regulation of associations and foundations José Luis Piñar Mañas and Isabel Peñalosa Esteban; 17. The law in Sweden regarding civil society organisations Magdalena Giertz.