Being born again, Republican fashioned a nicer country (13)
I believe the answer is:
reincarnation
'being born again' is the definition.
'republican fashioned a nicer country' is the wordplay.
'republican' becomes 'r' (abbreviation).
'fashioned' indicates anagramming the letters.
'country' becomes 'nation' ('nation' can be a synonym of 'country'**).
'a'+'nicer'='anicer'
'anicer' is an anagram of 'eincar'.
'r'+'eincar'+'nation'='REINCARNATION'
(Other definitions for reincarnation that I've seen before include "getting new body" , "Embodiment of a soul in a new form after death" , "new life" , "revised version" , "Rebirth (of a soul)" .)