In one of the podcasts I listened to, Chile, a national factor that sparked empowerment and created change were social movements such as the transition from dictatorship to democracy in Chile which allowed expansion in health care and education. Specifically this podcast talked about SDG #7 which is affordable and clean energy. For Chile to work towards its goal of having more affordable clean energy, the international trade administration states that by 2023 63% of electricity will come from clean energy as well as holding about 50% of the world’s lithium reserve, which impacts the world’s mineral trades. This allows Chile to have a strong base for trade and an economy with renewable energy resources. Chile as well as international factors that create more progress towards their SDG, such as the United States supplying 25% of the machinery used to mine for lithium, which increased Chile’s trade with the United State hegemon giving profit to different transportation companies around the world.

In another podcast, I listened to how Alergia plans to improve its SDG of peace, justice, and strong institutions. In this podcast, they talked about how Algeria has been plagued by security issues allowing many terrorist activities and events to occur, such as ISIS. This podcast talks about how these terrorist groups were an effect of a corrupt election in 1992 and a civil war that began because of secularism and religion in Algeria. Alergia is a natural resource “hotbed” that contains delicacies like oil. With events happening all around the world such as inflations, the revenue of oil has decreased for Algeria. With their economy declining because of this, the world bank states that a diversified economy would boost their revenue and create new jobs for a young and upcoming demographic. Alergia has made steps towards this future goal such as a governmental action plan to influence economic decisions which include better judgment on public spending, import production, and boosting non-hydrocarbon exports. This new hydrocarbon law and investment law increase investments not only for Algeria but for others outside their borders.

Within this project and listening to other’s research it is very interesting to see how a country makes plans and actions to achieve its SDG goals in the future. Various countries have different paths to get to their action plans and achieve their goals. For some countries, it might take protests to change their government’s plans and structures, while others seek additional resources and help from other countries which can strengthen their international relations with different countries in the international system.