Birth of some steady alliances around the time OPEC was formed (9)
I believe the answer is:
seventies
'the time opec was formed' is the definition.
I can't judge whether this defines the answer.
'birth of some steady alliances' is the wordplay.
'birth of some steady' becomes 'seven' (I can't explain this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'alliances' becomes 'ties' (I've seen this in another clue).
'seven'+'ties'='SEVENTIES'
'around' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for seventies that I've seen before include "retirement years?" , "Decade of the Arms crisis, Vietnam and All Kinds of Everything" .)