Mother’s rule initially in country (6)
I believe the answer is:
malawi
'country' is the definition.
(I know that Malawi is a country)
'mother's rule initially in' is the wordplay.
'mother' becomes 'ma' (Ma is another word for mother or mum).
'rule' becomes 'law' (law is a kind of rule).
'initially' suggests taking the first letters.
The first letter of 'in' is 'i'.
'ma'+'law'+'i'='MALAWI'
(Other definitions for malawi that I've seen before include "It was called Nyasaland" , "East African country" , "Country to west of Lake Nyasa" , "Former Nyasaland" , "Country W. of Lake Nyasa" .)