Earl manages to escape terribly libertarian neighbour (7)

I believe the answer is:

britain

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'earl' is the definition.
Although both the answer and definition are singular nouns, I can't see how they can define each other.

I don't understand how the rest of the clue works.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for britain that I've seen before include "Country" , "Island north of France" , "State" , "Main UK island" , "Largest UK island" .)

I've seen this clue in The Irish Times.

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