In Central and East European studies, capitals can cause some difficulties. When should 'state' be capitalised? Or 'party'? Or 'east'? Here, we've outlined some rules that will help.

The following words should always be capitalised:
  • the first word of every sentence
  • proper nouns, i.e. individuals' names, place names, languages, days of the week, months of the year, festivals (e.g. Easter, Whitsun, Ramadan, Diwali) and holy days (e.g. All Saints, the Assumption), brand names (Coca Cola, Nestle)
  • the personal pronoun ‘I’
  • Roman numerals, e.g. XIV, IV, MCLXVII
  • If you find yourself referring to God, ‘He’ or 'His' should be capitalised. For example: In the middle ages, few questioned whether belief in God was rational.

    Capitalising the names of distinctive events alters with fashion. The key is to be consistent, so if you start writing the Enlightenment, the Industrial Revolution, the French Revolution, the middle ages, the reformation, make sure that's the template for your whole essay. Random or inconsistent capitalisation is more irritating than wrongly used capitals.

    Within your text, names like Prime Minister Oleksy should be capitalised, but if you are referring to Prime Minister by his title alone, you should use lower case. Hence:

  • Prime Minister Oleksy, but the prime minister
  • the Second World War, but the war
  • the Solidarity Party, but the party
  • the Velvet Revolution, but the revolution
  • the Journal of Politics, but the journal
  • The University of Glasgow, but the university
  • the Communist Manifesto, but communism
  • the European Security Council, but European security and the council

    Hyphenated titles or names are capitalised in all parts: Vice-President, Vice-Chancellor.

    Government is nearly always lower case.
  • the Soviet government
  • the government of the day
  • the Democratic government
  • the Conservative government
  • the government passed three laws



  • In titles of books, journals, articles or on websites, the following should be capitalised:
  • the initial letters of the first word
  • all nouns (naming words)
  • pronouns (I, you, her, him, it, us, etc.) but NOT the word 'that'
  • adjectives (words that describe nouns, e.g. the brown dog)
  • verbs (doing words)
  • adverbs (words describing verbs, or describing any other word apart from nouns)
  • subordinate conjunctions (e.g. after, although, as, because, before, since, than, though, etc.)
  • the first word after a colon (this rule only applies in titles)

    For example:
  • The Balkans after the Cold War: From Tyranny to Tragedy
  • Developments in Central and East European Politics
  • The Communist Manifesto
  • A History of Modern Russia frm Nicholas II to Putin

  • Geographical capitals should be used as in the following examples, i.e. capitalise when the term is a title or a political division, otherwise leave lower case:

  • the United States but state ownership and the Baltic states
  • Eastern Europe (as a political entity) but eastern Europe (as a geographical entity)
  • Western Europe, but the west
  • South Africa, but the south of Scotland
  • the Eastern bloc but eastern Russia

    A sentence might read: In Western Europe, democracy prevails (i.e. using Western Europe as a political entity) but in western Europe the weather is wetter (i.e. using western Europe as a geographical indicator).

    The same goes for terms that can be used as either part of a title or as a general term. Ask yourself 'am I using this name for a unique, specific person or office, or in a more general way. Capitalise if the answer is 'unique, specific', otherwise do not. As before, the most important thing of all is to be consistent.

  • the state, but the State of Indiana
  • the church, but the Roman Catholic Church
  • Merton College, but the college
  • the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, but the treaty
  • the Socialist Party but socialists
  • the Christian Democratic People's Party, but the party