African country in past beset by revolutionary trouble (5)
I believe the answer is:
libya
'african country' is the definition.
(Libya is an example)
'past beset by revolutionary trouble' is the wordplay.
'past' becomes 'by' ('by' can be a synonym of 'past').
'beset by' means one lot of letters goes inside another ('beset' could historically mean 'cover').
'revolutionary' says the letters should be written in reverse.
'trouble' becomes 'ail' ('ail' can be a synonym of 'trouble').
'ail' back-to-front is 'lia'.
'by' put within 'lia' is 'LIBYA'.
'in' is the link.
(Other definitions for libya that I've seen before include "Colonel Gadaffi's country" , "Where Idris was king" , "Tripoli's country" , "North African republic" , "Country in N. Africa" .)