Country or Empire without a politician (4)
I believe the answer is:
eire
'country' is the definition.
(Eire is an example)
'empire without a politician' is the wordplay.
'without' is a deletion indicator.
'a politician' becomes 'pm' (short for prime minister).
'empire' with 'pm' taken out is 'EIRE'.
'or' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for eire that I've seen before include "Southern Ireland" , "island" , "Northwest European country" , "Former name for the Republic of Ireland" , "Former name of the Irish Republic" .)