13 February 2008, i.e. the six weeks prior to the "Zumwinkel affair", will first be analyzed to 
identify any weak signals that perhaps could have given an indication of the crisis to come. 
Second, the time period from 14 February to 31 March 2008 will be examined, i.e. from the 
beginning of the "Zumwinkel affair", which very quickly developed into a "tax affair", until 
the transition to a new phase of international communication by the Principality of 
Liechtenstein. With a brief rough description and an overview of the developments in the time 
preceding and following, the examined period of 1 January to 31 March 2008 will be 
embedded in a greater timeframe. 
Chapter 5 describes the course of the tax debate based on events relevant to international 
policy, places these into the greater context of the issues relevant to this analysis, and also 
embeds them in the greater timeframe. 
In Chapter 6, the debate concerning taxes, ethics and national interests carried out in the 
media will be interpreted on the basis of the reports in the news agencies and German print 
media, making use of the selected analytic categories. 
Chapter 7 again summarizes the most important findings brought to light by this master's 
thesis and provides an outlook for the future.