ART OF DIPLOMACY AND POLITICAL SYMBOLISM: FROM THE HISTORY OF GIFTS TO TOP STATE OFFICIALS

Abstract

Gifts are an integral part of human communication, given and exchanged in various situations and transactions. At the same time, official or state gifts to top officials of the state represent a unique category of gifts. They are primarily of symbolic value, and the giving and exchange of gifts between the parties involved shapes the nature of the relationship that develops between them.

Moreover, for centuries, the exchange of gifts between foreign leaders has been a tradition closely associated with the delicate work of international diplomacy. Diplomatic gifts, often formally presented during state or courtesy visits, have the potential to forge closer ties between countries.

The article examines the history of one of the integral parts of the protocol practice of each state, a symbol of attention to a distinguished guest – gifts to the first persons of the state during the Soviet period and independent Kazakhstan. Based on the analysis, some features have been identified in the practice of presenting gifts based on certain traditions of a certain historical period.

The article contains a previously unpublished interesting episode from the life of an ordinary Soviet citizen while his visiting the exhibition of gifts to top officials of the state, in Moscow in 1950. This excerpt from the letter clearly demonstrates what gifts were given to the heads of the state, as well as what impression they made on ordinary people. The publication of the material became possible owing to the daughter of the author of the letter, who carefully preserved and provided documents from the family archive, a veteran of archiving of the Kazakh SSR and the Republic of Kazakhstan, Elena Mikhailovna Gribanova.