Encouraged popular Italian leader back to motherland (7)
I believe the answer is:
induced
'encouraged' is the definition.
Both the definition and answer are adjectives. Perhaps you can see an association between them that I don't see?
'popular italian leader back to motherland' is the wordplay.
'popular' becomes 'in' ('in' can mean trendy).
'italian leader' becomes 'duce' (Benito Mussolini was known as Il Duce).
'back to' suggests the final letters.
The last letter of 'motherland' is 'd'.
'in'+'duce'+'d'='INDUCED'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for induced that I've seen before include "Persuaded - brought to birth early" , "forced into the world" , "Persuaded or brought forward" .)