Group of countries with common interest (4)
I believe the answer is:
bloc
<span class="explanation-format__ClueExplanation">'<span class="explanation-format__original">group of countries with common interest</span>' is the definition.<br/ ><span class="explanation-format__explanation">(I've seen this before)</span><br/ ><br/ >This is the entire clue.<br/ ></span>
(Other definitions for bloc that I've seen before include "Alliance - coalition" , "Axis (political)" , "Combination of parties or countries" , "Alliance of nations" , "Group of parties or countries united in common interest - sounds wooden" .)