Journal of Natural Resources Policy Research, Vol. 8, Nos. 1–2, 2018 Copyright © 2018 The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA (Received 18 May 2018; accepted 6 August 2018) doi: 10.5325/naturesopolirese.8.1–2.0131 Abstract | This article presents an alternative framing of disasters as a form of structural violence resulting from the unequal distribution of structural power between various groups, organizations, institutions, and states in the contempo- rary global political economy. The article utilizes a theoretical framework that com- bines Johan Galtung’s typology of violence and Susan Strange’s conceptualization of structural power to open up new space for analysis in the disaster politics nexus. The article applies its framework to explore how an understanding of disasters as a form of violence problematizes trends within mainstream disaster risk reduction (DRR) policies. Specifcally, the article examines the integration of fnancial risk-sharing mechanisms into the disaster politics nexus through new public–private partner- ships between insurance and reinsurance frms, international fnancial institutions, and governments to transfer catastrophic risk to global capital markets. The article seeks to repoliticize these changes and bring questions of power back into the larger conversation surrounding DRR policies. Keywords | disasters, insurance, power, risk, violence Te year 2017 was notable for the number and severity of disasters that it witnessed; disasters routinely captured daily headlines around the globe, with numerous earthquakes, foods, hurricanes, and wildfres competing for our attention. According to the world’s largest reinsurance companies, 2017 is Developing Disaster: Power, Structural Violence, Insurance-Linked Securities, and the International Political Economy of the Disaster Politics Nexus KOREY PASCH Queen’s University, Kingston, Canada korey.pasch@queensu.ca