Thankfully outside before family member blows top - it's an oppressive regime (7)
I believe the answer is:
tyranny
'oppressive regime' is the definition.
The definition and answer can be both related to thinking as well as being singular nouns.
Maybe there's an association between them I don't understand?
'thankfully outside before family member blows top it's an' is the wordplay.
'outside' suggests removing the centre.
'before' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other).
'family member' becomes 'gran' (short for grandmother).
'blows top' means to remove the first letter (the first or top letter is shot or blown away).
'it's an' becomes 'ny' (I am not sure about this - if you are sure you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'thankfully' with its middle removed is 'ty'.
'gran' with its first letter removed is 'ran'.
'ty'+'ran'+'ny'='TYRANNY'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for tyranny that I've seen before include "Despotic rule" , "Cruel and oppressive rule" , "Cruel and arbitrary rule" , "Excessive use of power" , "Dominance through threat of punishment and violence" .)