West's involvement in Rhodesia's dissolution appears to be less substantial (9)

I believe the answer is:

shadowier

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'dissolution appears to be less substantial' is the definition.
I don't know anything about this answer so I can't tell whether it can be defined by this definition.

'west's involvement in rhodesia's' is the wordplay.
I cannot really understand how this works, but
'west' could be 'w' (abbreviation) and 'w' is located in the answer.
an anagram of 'rhodesia' is 'shadoier' which is present in the left over letters.
No letters remain.
This explanation may well be incorrect...

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I've seen this clue in The Independent.

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