Smart head of state with hope (5)
I believe the answer is:
swish
'smart' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'head of state with hope' is the wordplay.
'head of' indicates taking the first letters.
'with' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other).
'hope' becomes 'wish'.
The first letter of 'state' is 's'.
's'+'wish'='SWISH'
(Other definitions for swish that I've seen before include "Smart; stylish" , "Sound of cane" , "Elegant" , "Impressively smart" , "Smart, fashionable" .)