This book offers an illuminating account of how material and ideational dynamics shape the evolution of Malaysia–Indonesia relations. It addresses the circumstances, conditions and constraints that determine the double-edged effects of the culturally bound “special relationship”. The author argues that while their shared serumpun identities and strategic interests do give rise to a considerable closeness between Malaysia and Indonesia, the politics of power (im)balance have prevented the transformation of the special relationship into a “pluralistic security community”, as their egoistic understanding averts the formation of collective self.