Foundation of government on all sides (6)
I believe the answer is:
ground
'foundation' is the definition.
(ground is a kind of foundation)
'government on all sides' is the wordplay.
'government' becomes 'g'.
'on all sides' becomes 'round'.
'g'+'round'='GROUND'
'of' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for ground that I've seen before include "Land; reduced to powder" , "territory" , "Worked hard" , "Earth; stadium" , "Base; reason" .)