This paper analyses US approach to human rights and democracy promotion to track the adjustments it has undergone in the last decade. In addition, by focusing on such landmark events as the 9/11 terrorist attacks, changes in the presidency and the Arab Spring, the paper aims to reveal possible patterns in these adjustments. Showing that discursive and practical adjustments to US approach to human rights and democracy promotion have followed from the 9/11 attacks and presidential changes, the paper argues that US policies are likely to be more susceptible to internal, rather than external, developments.