One administered an Asian republic (4)
I believe the answer is:
iran
'an asian republic' is the definition.
(I've seen this in another clue)
'one administered' is the wordplay.
'one' becomes 'i' (Roman numeral).
'administered' becomes 'ran' (run can mean to administer or control).
'i'+'ran'='IRAN'
(Other definitions for iran that I've seen before include "Formerly Persia" , "Former Persia" , "Modern-day Persia" , "Country where ayatollahs replaced a shah" , "Country to east of Iraq" .)