Without external influence, independent state finally governs freely (9)

I believe the answer is:

sovereign

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'without external influence' is the definition.
I can't tell whether this definition defines the answer.

'independent state finally governs freely' is the wordplay.
'independent' becomes 'i'.
'finally' says to take the final letters.
'freely' indicates anagramming the letters.
The last letter of 'state' is 'e'.
'i'+'e'+'governs'='iegoverns'
'iegoverns' anagrammed gives 'SOVEREIGN'.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for sovereign that I've seen before include "Old gold coin" , "13 across -- coin" , "more than a prince" , "Old money" , "Her Maj?" .)

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