Pure Proceduralism

Pure Proceduralism rests on the idea that the liberal state should not endorse any values save those that are basic for fair and equal democratic debate. Pure Proceduralists believe the state primarily should set up a sparse structure that will facilitate debate between free and equal beings. No more, no less. Within this structure, these facilitating values include universal suffrage, and freedom of speech. On the other hand, other liberties usually thought of as basic freedoms are not included in this structure - such as freedom of religion.
Pure Proceduralism tends to be endorsed by those considered the purest and most neutral of liberals who wish the state not to make any judgement calls on the good life. However, it can be shown that this position should be seen as distinctly democratic. The content, rather than the structure of these decisions, forces the state to endorse as legislation decisions that are decidedly non-neutral towards the good life. Further, this position can be shown to side with decisions and decision processes that can be seen as communitarian, rather than liberal.
Viewing P.P. as a democratic rather than liberal value, can show us that only liberal theories capable of incorporating thicker sets of values are tenable as liberal theories.
Hopefully, we can also see from this paper, what a communitarian state may look like in practice. Much has been written about communitarianism as a theoretical criticism of liberalism. But, what do these criticisms amount to in practice? We could view PP as a key component within a structure of public reason for democratic communitarianism.