Country became backward, finishing with nothing (4)
I believe the answer is:
togo
'country' is the definition.
(Togo is an example)
'became backward finishing with nothing' is the wordplay.
'became' becomes 'got' ('get' can be a synonym of 'become').
'backward' says the letters should be written backwards.
'finishing' says to put letters next to each other.
'with nothing' becomes 'o' (I've seen this in other clues).
'got' reversed gives 'tog'.
'tog'+'o'='TOGO'
(Other definitions for togo that I've seen before include "territory of some West Africans" , "W African republic" , "W African country" , "West African republic" , "place in Africa" .)