History Main / ThePoliticalOfficer

** The Ultramarines novel series features a commissar that was actually terrified of his regiment colonel. This is rather strange, given that commissars stand outside of command structure and officially outrank anyone in their regiment and have legal right to shoot you if they feel like it after filling in some minor amount of paperwork.
** A reversal of the roles occurs when Commissars serve alongside the Death Korps of Krieg. The Kriegers are a MartyrdomCulture fixated on atoning for the misdeeds against the Imperium committed by their ancestors in their planet's civil war. Commissars assigned to the Korps are said to have never executed any of them, and instead have to ''rein in'' their tendency to perform [[SenselessSacrifice senseless]] or [[StupidSacrifice stupid]] sacrifices. When the Commissars actually tell you to ''stay alive'', you know your priorities are... interesting.

* The Literature/{{Boojumverse}} story "Mongoose", by Sarah Monette and Elizabeth Bear. Izrael Irizarry has an OhCrap moment when the political officer for the SpaceStation he's clearing of {{Eldritch Abomination}}s turns up and starts asking awkward questions. Subverted when Colonel Sadhi Sanderson turns out to be a ReasonableAuthorityFigure who doesn't ask about his MysteriousPast but is more interested in helping Izrael do his job.
* ''Literature/BrokenAngels'' by Creator/RichardKMorgan. The [[PrivateMilitaryContractors Wedge]] are kept under the surveillance of a political officer, so to avoid any problems with him they forcefully addict him to "the wire", threatening to withhold it if he causes trouble. The political officer gets his revenge [[spoiler:when his surveillance reveals the protagonist is planning to kill his former colleagues -- he 'forgets' to inform the Wedge commander of this.]]
* In Creator/HarryTurtledove's ''Literature/DarknessSeries'', the Russia-parallel nation has a line of these people stationed half a mile behind the front with sticks (magic guns) and orders to blaze (shoot) anyone passing by them.

* ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'': [[TheNeidermeyer Corporal Strappi]] from ''Literature/MonstrousRegiment'', a particularly loathsome example. He takes cruel delight in bullying his soldiers (to the point that one of them throws up whenever he starts yelling), talks big about patriotism, and when it looks like he's actually going to get sent to the front, wets himself and deserts. Oddly, the identities of Borogravian political officers seem to be a secret -- Strappi's status is just rumoured at first, until TheReveal. As such they're probably more of a cross between this trope and [[StateSec Stasi-esque]] informants, presumably to avert the inherent risk of [[UnfriendlyFire fragging]] that comes with the role (and indeed, the squad were fairly openly planning to do this at the first opportunity before he deserted). The finale reveals he was actually there to investigate the paperwork irregularities around the Sergeant in a relatively mundane InternalAffairs operation, and when his actions come to light (not just the desertion but his general conduct) he's put up on official charges himself.

* ''Literature/HonorHarrington'': The People's Commissioners of Haven's second regime fit this to a tee. Their dampening effect on the competence of "elitist, recidivist" officers (who were liable to get shot, along with their entire extended families, for the slightest imagined disloyalty or failure in battle-based on the French Revolution) was half the reason Manticore won that war. Most of the political officers that have significant time on screen, however, tend to work ''with'' their assigned personnel instead of against them, as generally {{Reasonable Authority Figure}}s. Some even go beyond that, [[spoiler:actively concealing outright treasonous activities and planning, including ultimately overthrowing the Committee for Public Safety and restoring the original Republic of Haven.]]
** And even further beyond ''that'', [[spoiler: some of the commissioners not only become friends of the officers they are supposed to oversee but, in the most famous case, become ''lovers'' — and one of the most touching love stories of the whole series, to boot!]]
* Putin in ''Literature/TheHuntForRedOctober'', who is murdered by Ramius at the beginning. Oddly enough, it is implied that he was actually a decent man. The reason Ramius killed him was that he couldn't be trusted. [[NecessarilyEvil Cold-hearted, yes]]. [[IDidWhatIHadToDo But rational under the circumstances]].

* Creator/CordwainerSmith presents an imaginative variant of this trope in one of his ''[[TheVerse Instrumentality]]'' stories. Monitors are criminals modified to simply do nothing but watch and record events in their memories. Secretly, if a military commander attempts to defect or run away during a war, the Monitor will act and destroy the captain.

* In ''Literature/TheQuantumThief'' the chen copy clan has served this function since the [[NoodleIncident Dragon Wars]], acting as observers on all Sobornost ships so that inter-Founder conflicts don't get in the way of larger Sobornost goals.
* Naturally, all over the place in Fyodor Berezin's ''Red Stars'' books in the Parallel!USSR. One of them is introduced debating another political officer about the wording of a warship's news bulletin (whether it's appropriate to call their not-far-off descendants "glorious" since they haven't earned the glory yet; he goes with it anyway to avoid the alternative "not-far-off", which can be interpreted as "dimwitted"; his superior then claims that a Soviet sailor will not think the alternative if he's ordered not to). Later, when said warship is being sunk by the American fleet, he goes on the horn and broadcasts a message about the crew putting up a fierce fight before going down. He survives but is later charged with treason for revealing a state secret (namely, the fact of the ship's destruction).
* In ''Literature/RedStormRising'' we see a few political officers. They are almost invariably incompetent -- when the Soviet forces in Iceland are [[spoiler: about to be mauled by an Anglo-American task force and need to surrender]], General Andreyev gets rid of his political officer by seizing on a throwaway remark the ''zampolit'' made about "true courage" by giving him a rifle and ordering him to the front, to inspire the men to some more "true courage".
* Tom Sharpe’s apartheid-era South African satires ''Literature/RiotousAssembly'' and ''Literature/IndecentExposure'' feature Lieutenant Verkramp, who is much feared and distrusted because he is believed to be an agent of BOSS (although whether this is actually true, is open to question given that Konstabel Els, in particular, is believed to be of mixed race and well known for his enthusiasm for inter-racial intercourse, consensual or otherwise).

* A democratic variant in Creator/IanDouglas's ''Literature/StarCarrier'' series with the Senate assigning their "political liaisons" to fleet carriers in order to make sure their orders are carried out. In the first book, Admiral Alexander Koenig ends up at odds with John Quintanilla, the Senate's liaison to the ''America'', who keeps criticizing Koenig's orders and the overall battleplan, even though Koenig's wasn't the one who came up with it. Koenig ends up kicking Quintanilla out of the CIC, which later has political repercussions. For someone who's supposed to "liaise" with the military, Quintanilla doesn't even know how this 'verse's method of FTL works. Naturally, the author only does this for an AsYouKnow exposition.
* ''Franchise/StarWarsLegends'': the [[https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Political_Reliability_Observer Political Reliability Observer]]. And in the new Franchise/StarWarsExpandedUniverse, the Empire has [[https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Loyalty_officer loyalty officers]] commissioned by Darth Vader.
* ''Literature/TheThreeBodyProblem'': ''The Dark Forest'' includes a rare example of a heroic political officer who actually accomplishes things by being good at being a political officer.
* Barrayar has political officers in the early parts of the ''Literature/VorkosiganSaga''. Admiral Aral Vorkosigan notoriously murdered his own particularly scheming one with his bare hands on his flag bridge during the invasion of Komarr, and only dodged serious consequences (other than a demotion to Captain) due to his bloodline. Later, another political officer tries to murder him in return.
** It is implied that while the outcry was intentionally high, he was demoted only to keep the official face on the thing, political officers being a rather new institution and just another tool in the [[MagnificentBastard Ezar's]] box.
* ''Literature/CiaphasCain'': Commissar Ciaphas Cain[[note]]'''HERO OF THE IMPERIUM'''[[/note]] is actually an aversion. While a great many commissars are the shoot-the-men-if-they-get-rowdy type who happily pull rank (they technically outrank anyone who's not a senior commissar, Inquisitor, or SpaceMarine) to ensure regulations are followed, he carefully cultivates bonds of camaraderie with the troops under him so he's less likely to suffer an "unfortunate accident" (see Catachans below). His position of trust and ability to act outside the chain of command has been what enabled him to save the day several times.

* ''Breakfast at Twilight'' by Creator/PhilipKDick is about an American family who accidentally time-travel to WorldWarThree. They're accosted by American troops who call in their 'polic' who is responsible for monitoring the soldiers for communist subversion. Fortunately he's a ReasonableAuthorityFigure who, realising they won't adapt well to this CrapsackWorld, gives them a choice of going to the UndergroundCity where the family will be safe but split up to serve the war effort, or stay and face the next wave of nukes in the hope the same accident takes them back in time. He also confiscates some of their books, but only because [[BookBurning he has nothing to read himself]].

* Lord Madeira from ''VideoGame/BattleTech2018'' is a nobleman attached to your mercenary company during the main campaign whose job it is to oversee your company and make sure you go where your employer wants you to go. Officially, his role is 'political advisor', but both him and his employer is open about the fact that he's there to remind you where your loyalties lie. Since the campaign [[NoCampaignForTheWicked does not offer you the opportunity to backstab your employer]] and [[TakeYourTime you are under no time limit to complete it]], his role as a political officer never comes into play and he leaves the ''Argo'' after the campaign ends.

* Utterly mocked in ''ComicBook/{{Sturmtruppen}}'': set during World War II with a German battalion, a recurring character is Galeazzo Musolesi, an ''Italian'' political officer of immense high rank[[note]]His introduction describes him as a ''Federale''. In the Fascist Party hierarchy, that means he's either the Federal Secretary reporting directly to ''Mussolini himself'' or one of his deputies[[/note]]... But being Italian he's a guest with no real authority, and being a coward and [[NoUndeadTaxExemption legally dead]] reduces his prestige and privileges and forces him to start some ridiculous antics he doesn't starve again (as it happened when he was declared dead) and put together some money.

** Even ''to this day'', the Republic of China Armed Forces [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_Warfare_Bureau retains]] political officers. Basically their job, like in the old days, is to instill discipline and root out pro-Mainland China sentiment, counter mainland propaganda and send their own, and also help deal with individual soldiers' problems (similar to what the 'educator-officers' in Russia are doing today). A television show on Thursdays about current Taiwanese military events and trends, named "Chukuang Garden" and produced by the Bureau, is compulsory watching for the rank-and-file and enforced by the [=PWB=].