Impoverished north on its knees (6)
I believe the answer is:
broken
'on its knees' is the definition.
'impoverished north' is the wordplay.
'impoverished' becomes 'broke' (breaking is a kind of impoverishing).
'north' becomes 'n' ('N' can be a synonym of 'north').
'broke'+'n'='BROKEN'
(Other definitions for broken that I've seen before include "Shattered, perhaps emotionally" , "Interrupted; crushed" , "Interrupted; smashed" , "Busted, damaged" , "Fractured, damaged" .)