Agent Provocateur - Television Tropes & Idioms

In spy lingo, this is a covert operative whose job is to incite rebellion, entice defectors or goad the enemy into a foolish action (sometimes to the point of skirting with the False Flag Operation). Even though it's a sexy French word, the Agent Provocateur got the short end of the sexy spy stick. They are looked down upon by...pretty much everyone.

It may have something to do with the fact that—as a Treacherous Advisor—they are inherently untrustworthy. One side (the Agent Provocateur's true alignment) believes they are inciting foolish, risky attacks against them, while the other side (the infiltratees) thinks they are inciting foolish, risky behavior in their friends.

Confused yet? That's probably why these guys aren't nearly as popular in fiction as they are in Real Life. In Real Life it's good if no one can figure out a covert operative's cover. In fiction, on the other hand...

Not necessarily one of Les Collaborateurs, though he or she may double as this. Not to be confused with a Honey Trap.

Examples

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Anime And Manga

In Fullmetal Alchemist, the Ishval uprising is supposedly the result of a soldier accidentally shooting an Ishval boy. It was actually Envy, who had posed as an Armestrian soldier and shot the child with the intent of causing the rebellion. The purpose of the homunculi is pretty much to starts wars.
- In the 2003 anime adaptation, a group of special forces had been tasked with starting the Ishbal uprising. This group of special forces is then used in experiments to create chimeras who are let loose after the 5th laboratory arc and expose the whole conspiracy. The story of the child getting shot is then spread around as a coverup.

Film

The film Matewan, about labor unrest and the formation of a miner's union in 1920s West Virginia, had the Baldwin-Felts Detective Organization engaged in this activity, through their mole in the union persuading a young miner to plant a bomb to shut down one of the mines.

Literature

A Civil Campaign: Byerly is actually an ImpSec agent working to support Lord Dono's claim to the countship. Or at least to actively encourage the rather extreme shenanigans Dono's rival attempts.
- Byerly's job was merely to observe, and report any suspicious activity. His working as an agent provocateur against Richars was done entirely on his own. ImpSec had no official interest in which side won the Countship.
- Frustrated by the inherently reactionary nature of his job as an Imperial Auditor, Miles briefly ponders the probability of convincing the Emperor to deploy an Auditor Provocateur.
The State Councilor novel contains enough of these to make Erast Fandorin swear he'll never take political cases again.
In Robert A. Heinlein's The Cat Who Walks Through Walls: Gwen is falsely accused of being one.
Sten: Mercury Corps uses this as a matter of course. Sten incites rebellion on Vulcan by fulfilling the Mig folk story of "one of their own" who will get out, return, and lead them to freedom. Especially effective because he is, and does.
Nom Anor from the New Jedi Order, several times in different disguises.
James Mowry, the hero of Eric Frank Russell's Wasp, is sent down alone to an alien planet to stir up as much trouble as he possibly can.
The backstory of Riviera in Neuromancer who has a sexual fetish out of betrayal. He enjoys seducing women, turning them towards radical causes, then handing them over to the Turkish Secret Police and assisting in their torture.

Real Life

This is used often by the police, especially in regards to drug cases, asking to buy some drugs hoping the suspected drug dealer would agree, then catching them in the act. The main potential pitfall is that they can't persuade the guy to commit a crime that he wouldn't have done without their prompting, which is called entrapment.
It's an Open Secret that riots are often incited by police masked as demonstrators so the demonstration will escalate and come to a quick end, with an attempt to justify Police Brutality.