Sovereign taking a nation in the wrong direction (6)
I believe the answer is:
regina
'sovereign' is the definition.
'a nation in the wrong direction' is the wordplay.
'nation' becomes 'niger' (Niger is an example).
'in the wrong direction' shows that the letters should be reversed in order.
'a'+'niger'='aniger'
'aniger' backwards is 'REGINA'.
'taking' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for regina that I've seen before include "Title of reigning Queen" , "Something inserted" , "Queen (in law cases)" , "Queen in legal issues" , "ER, Elizabeth ..." .)