Book Review: The Technological Republic: Hard Power, Soft Belief and the Future of the West

Other text in scientific journal, 2026

This review essay performs a ‘symptomatic reading’ of The Technological Republic. Here, the essay seeks to interpret the book by paying close attention to what it does not say about its place in the world. However, it is equally productive to perform a less suspicious ‘surface reading’ of the book. Thus, the third part of this essay will suggest that The Technological Republic successfully brings several important concerns into public view. These include the social legitimacy of the tech sector, the instrumentalization of engineering education, the place of the humanities in such education, and the ongoing militarization of engineering.