Head of state not starting with inhabitant (8)
I believe the answer is:
resident
'inhabitant' is the definition.
(I know that resident is a type of inhabitant)
'head of state not starting' is the wordplay.
'head of state' becomes 'president' (president is a type of head of state).
'not starting' means to remove the first letter.
'president' with its initial letter removed is 'RESIDENT'.
'with' is the link.
(Other definitions for resident that I've seen before include "Inmate" , "Occupant's" , "Permanent dweller" , "Occupier" , "Hotel guest staying for a prolonged period" .)