Nation I governed (4)
I believe the answer is:
iran
'nation' is the definition.
(Iran is an example)
'i governed' is the wordplay.
'governed' becomes 'ran' (I've seen this in other clues).
'i'+'ran'='IRAN'
(Other definitions for iran that I've seen before include "Formerly Persia" , "Tehran's country" , "Country of western Asia" , "Country to east of Iraq" , "Country where ayatollahs replaced a shah" .)