Of an area politically controlled by a distant country (8)
I believe the answer is:
colonial
'of an area politically controlled by a distant country' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
This is the entire clue.
(Other definitions for colonial that I've seen before include "Refers to territorial possessions controlled by a ruling state" , "Living in dependency" , "Of places ruled by distant governments" , "Like America before independence" , "Maybe overseas" .)