This is precisely why early islamic political philosophers, instead of focusing on particular structures of governance and socio-economic frameworks of administration, emphasised the ethico-spiritual internal stability of the rulers.
All forms of technological, political and socio-economic developments are ultimately the expression of one of the same inner forces of desires (as theorised by the likes of al-ghazali or raghib al-isfahani) that have operated throughout the history of humankind, the same inner monologues which ran through nimrod or firawn today run through the likes of peter thiel or donald trump.
The story of all of human socio-political and techno-economic developments is equally (or more importantly) the story of the unfolding of the nafs in some way or the other - all of the outward manipulation, control, domination and scheming that humanity has gained, is gaining or will gain, is simply a manifestation of the intellect falling prey to some attribute of the nafs.
The quranic emphasis on civilisational study and their cyclical nature is therefore almost always in reference to ethico-spiritual conundrums between the collective egos & moral conscience of a society in reference to their temporal might and success.
The Qur'an repeatedly tells the stories of past nations because human beings keep making the same mistakes with better technology.