Country, before India invades (4)
I believe the answer is:
eire
'country' is the definition.
(Eire is an example)
'before india invades' is the wordplay.
'before' becomes 'ere' (poetic term).
'india' becomes 'i' (phonetic alphabet: alpha, bravo, charlie etc.).
'invades' is an insertion indicator.
'ere' enclosing 'i' is 'EIRE'.
(Other definitions for eire that I've seen before include "Former name of the Irish Republic" , "Irish name for Ireland" , "Southern Ireland" , "Land" , "Republic across the water" .)