Compete with western opinion (4)
I believe the answer is:
view
'opinion' is the definition.
(I know that opinion can be written as view)
'compete with western' is the wordplay.
'compete with' becomes 'vie' (to vie with someone is to compete with them).
'western' becomes 'w'.
'vie'+'w'='VIEW'
(Other definitions for view that I've seen before include "Prospect - opinion" , "'Aspect, panorama (4)'" , "Range or field of vision" , "Opinion; watch" , "Opinion - vista" .)