Governors the reverse of tough folk, dismissing knight (7)
I believe the answer is:
satraps
'governors' is the definition.
(satrap is a kind of governor)
'reverse of tough folk dismissing knight' is the wordplay.
'reverse of' says the letters should be written backwards.
'tough folk' becomes 'Spartans' (Spartan warriors).
'dismissing' indicates named letters should be taken away.
'knight' becomes 'n' (chess abbreviation).
'spartans' with 'n' taken out is 'spartas'.
'spartas' backwards is 'SATRAPS'.
'the' is the link.
(Another definition for satraps that I've seen is " Governors".)