You argue that, "In the classic Star Trek series, the oppressive Klingon and Romulans have spacedrives and weapons at least as good as those of the free and democratic Federation. Could such authoritarian regimes really occupy and push forward the tech frontier, especially across a range of superscience technologies?"
I'd argue that's actually a misreading of evidence in the series. (Although I'm not sure whether that changes any of your argument in your post beyond the analogy).
There's a bunch of incidents where enemies start out being more powerful, with better weapons, but then lose to the Federation pulling tech tricks out of basically nowhere. The Federation ships are, generally, undergunned compared to other species' ships, but they have way better active and passive sensor arrays, and the science know-how to use them. Arguably, the climaxes of Star Treks 6, 7, 8, and 10, as well as Star Trek (2009) and the Dominion War series in DS9, are all dependent on the Federation outmatching superior enemy forces with better science.
Arguably the Defiant class -- the epitome of the Federation building a warship -- was only needed until the Federation had figured out how to deal with the Dominion's tricks, like shield-piercing energy weapons, suicide run tactics, and the Breen energy dampers. A forward, tough scout like the Defiant matters a lot until you understand your enemy, but once a Federation fleet does, it's all a foregone conclusion.
You argue that, "In the classic Star Trek series, the oppressive Klingon and Romulans have spacedrives and weapons at least as good as those of the free and democratic Federation. Could such authoritarian regimes really occupy and push forward the tech frontier, especially across a range of superscience technologies?"
I'd argue that's actually a misreading of evidence in the series. (Although I'm not sure whether that changes any of your argument in your post beyond the analogy).
There's a bunch of incidents where enemies start out being more powerful, with better weapons, but then lose to the Federation pulling tech tricks out of basically nowhere. The Federation ships are, generally, undergunned compared to other species' ships, but they have way better active and passive sensor arrays, and the science know-how to use them. Arguably, the climaxes of Star Treks 6, 7, 8, and 10, as well as Star Trek (2009) and the Dominion War series in DS9, are all dependent on the Federation outmatching superior enemy forces with better science.
Arguably the Defiant class -- the epitome of the Federation building a warship -- was only needed until the Federation had figured out how to deal with the Dominion's tricks, like shield-piercing energy weapons, suicide run tactics, and the Breen energy dampers. A forward, tough scout like the Defiant matters a lot until you understand your enemy, but once a Federation fleet does, it's all a foregone conclusion.