The science-fiction authors Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle wrote a fascinating book called 'The Mote in God's Eye' that deals with First Contact of an alien species. Us humans have discovered the secret to jumping vast interstellar distances, but our politics have reverted to monarchial heirarchy.

The aliens, the 'Moties', have been extremely advanced technologically for much longer than us, except they'd never figured out how to surpass lightspeed. And so their history had been a cyclic progression of expansions, population overloads, wars, dark ages, and enlightenments, carrying around and around again with no way for them to break the cycle except to find a way to break out of their own star system (there's some peculiar reproductive fate they cannot escape). And of course, this leads to a human blockade of the Moties, lest they burst their cage and become an aggressive competitor with humanity for habitable worlds.

It's a good read and a speculative look at a how a species of advanced age might not have any more luck than we do of modulating the natural tendency of life to expand wherever it can exist.

PS: talking about it makes me want to re-read it now.. if you like fiction that entertains intelligent conjecturing that reflects these issues you might like it yourself.
It's loads of fun, too... it's got all the energy of a really good episode of Star Trek or something while being really smart.