Community of former independent island returns (8)
I believe the answer is:
societal
'community' is the definition.
Both the answer and definition are adjectives. Maybe there's an association between them I don't understand?
'former independent island returns' is the wordplay.
'former' becomes 'late' (late can mean former or previous).
'independent' becomes 'i'.
'island' becomes 'Cos' (Greek island).
'returns' is a reversal indicator.
'late'+'i'+'cos'='lateicos'
'lateicos' back-to-front is 'SOCIETAL'.
'of' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Another definition for societal that I've seen is " of a community".)