It gives power to those who deserve it (11)
I believe the answer is:
meritocracy
'it gives power to those' is the definition.
The definition suggests a singular noun which matches the answer.
'deserve it' is the wordplay.
I cannot really see how this works, but
'deserve' could be 'merit' (synonyms) and 'merit' is found within the answer.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).
'who' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Another definition for meritocracy that I've seen is " Government by the best".)