I'll have to disagree with the view that the Empire has actually changed in the nine years since the higher ups have thought about changing the Empire into something more like the other empires.
There are several reasons that are against that, one major one being the length of generations in the upper classes. Only real way of reforming societies in the real world is through education, if you have Holders that are holding the reins in the upper echelons of the society that were educated around the time that the Khanid Kingdom was formed, then saying that they have changed in nine years, to me, is utter foolishness.
Most of the characters of the players have formed their world views decades before Heideran died, in very slightly different society that they are living in now. And as you know from real world, world views very rarely change for anyone during their lifetime. Liberal or conservative, they are what they were raised to.
The same education bit goes for every tier of the society, so basically you may have people that are around 15 years old that actually have been educated for the 'New Empire', the problem arises in the fact that who is giving that education.
Royal Amarrian Institute is/was owned by the Sarum and Ardishapur families, Hedion University on the other hand has always been the alma mater of the liberals, so people coming from that 'lineage' would be those more inclined of embracing the more cosmopolite way of seeing things.
This just shows that the whole education system in the Empire is divided into factions, and the political situation of the who is the Emperor does not affect it.
Other major aspect of the Amarrian culture that is against of the whole Empire becoming more like the others is the deeply entrenched respect for tradition.
Yes, Heideran reigned for several hundred years, but the Pax Amarria thing rose only after the Amarrians encountered the Gallente. After the Rebellion and Vak'Atioth the Empire was weak (militarily) and shaken (morally) so the only option was for the Emperor to push the Reclaiming on the back burner and do the politically smart thing and settle the issues with the new empires through diplomacy instead of Religious War.
Doriam.
He was a joke, he was alive for what... year or two... he really does not 'count'.
Crazy Zombie Bitch Jamyl?
Any Amarrian that has a religious bone in their body will disregard anything that she says and only give lip service so that they will not be ostracized by their peers. They will not certainly change their views so that they will be what she preaches.
The Kor-Azor and Tash-Murkon?
The fact that someone is a diplomat, it is more likely that their dedication to the 'cause' is unflinching than for a common person. They just have the skills to emulate ways of socially interacting with those that are not from the norm, under very rare conditions they will actually even consider that the ones they are interacting with to be equal to them. Case and point the diplomatic missives in Wikileaks.
Same goes double for business.
The Empire is monolithic entity, it does not change easily.
The past nine years in its history has been aberrations and most likely are treated as such by the majority of the Empire.
The veneer of 'civilized' behaviour may be thicker in some parts of the Empire, but it is nothing but the surface, if you scratch it, you will find the old lying underneath.
Just an opposing view, lets rumble.