Country Scotland backed in front of allies (7)
I believe the answer is:
albania
'country' is the definition.
(I know that Albania is a historical country)
'scotland backed in front of allies' is the wordplay.
'scotland' becomes 'Alba' (Gaelic name for Scotland).
'backed' says the letters should be written in reverse.
'front of' suggests taking the first letters (the letter at the front of the word).
The initial letter of 'allies' is 'a'.
'in' reversed gives 'ni'.
'alba'+'ni'+'a'='ALBANIA'
(Other definitions for albania that I've seen before include "SE European country" , "Country in the Balkans" , "Southeast European republic" , "Country on Adriatic coast" , "Balkan country" .)