I suspect that, even if he still has a very pragmatic approach, he's not really convinced about the idea of controlling crime by being a criminal as the only one and alone way that works for Gotham anymore. In fact, I think that, in his coming back, when he was full crime lording the city, he mostly did so as a means to achieve something else, as much as he pointed out how his methods worked and told Batman that he was doing it to prove his point. A positive side effect in his plan that would also hurt Bruce. I don't know, just my impression, which was even more settled with the movie.
I do think that he still believes that crime cannot be stopped, though.
But in the end, that depends of what each writer thinks he believes in each time.
I'm totally hung up, waiting for next issue too.