The premise[]
The CSA is able to negotiate British and French help in gaining a stalemate during the Civil War. After the war, the confederacy fails, and socialist exiles reform the government. The nation, now called Dixie, creates strong ties to the UK (and, by proxy, the rest of Western Europe) to strengthen its weak economy. The modern-day result is a nation rather like OTL Canada, but with even stronger ties to Europe.