Following a scam is going in for a harsh form of government (7)
I believe the answer is:
fascism
'following a' is the definition.
I can't tell whether this defines the answer.
'scam is going in for a harsh form of government' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
'is' is present in the answer.
an anagram of 'scam' is 'ascm' which is located in the left over letters.
A single letter 'f' remains which might be clued in a way I don't see.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for fascism that I've seen before include "Authoritarian system of government" , "Political theory advocating authoritarian government" , "System of extreme right-wing dictatorial government, like Mussolini's" , "Authoritarian style of government" , "Form of right-wing authoritarian nationalism" .)