A series about division creating unnecessary panic (8)
I believe the answer is:
alarmist
'creating unnecessary panic' is the definition.
'a series about division' is the wordplay.
'series' becomes 'list' (I have seen 'Series of entries ' mean 'list' so perhaps 'series' could also mean 'list').
'about' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'division' becomes 'arm' (arm is a kind of division**).
'list' going around 'arm' is 'larmist'.
'a'+'larmist'='ALARMIST'
(Other definitions for alarmist that I've seen before include "(Person) creating unnecessary panic" , "One who cries wolf" , "One may cause panic" , "Calamity Jane" , "One who exaggerates a danger" .)