The aim of this paper is to describe and explain which policy instruments for human rights (HR) the United States and the European Union use towards Burma and to examine the priority given to HR in their respective foreign policy. From the results of an empirical analysis this paper seeks to analyze the US and the EU as powers in the international system and aims to explain their behavior from this theoretical perspective. From the theoretical approaches used I conclude that these actors act in different ways regarding the Burmese issue. This is partially due to the structure of the international system. Both actors primarily use different forms of diplomatic tools and sanctions to try to force change for HR in Burma. From a comparison of the two this paper concludes that as a hegemon, and unlike the EU with economic interest in Burma, the US ability to focus on the HR issue in the country by far exceeds that of the European Union’s.

Though the US and the EU claim to follow liberal ideas about HR, this study shows that often other realistic preferences determine their modes of action.