  After the LHC Run 1, the standard model (SM) of particle physics has been
completed. Yet, despite its successes, the SM has shortcomings vis-\`{a}-vis
cosmological and other observations. At the same time, while the LHC restarts
for Run 2 at 13 TeV, there is presently a lack of direct evidence for new
physics phenomena at the accelerator energy frontier. From this state of
affairs arises the need for a consistent theoretical framework in which
deviations from the SM predictions can be calculated and compared to precision
measurements. Such a framework should be able to comprehensively make use of
all measurements in all sectors of particle physics, including LHC Higgs
measurements, past electroweak precision data, electric dipole moment, $g-2$,
penguins and flavor physics, neutrino scattering, deep inelastic scattering,
low-energy $e^{+}e^{-}$ scattering, mass measurements, and any search for
physics beyond the SM. By simultaneously describing all existing measurements,
this framework then becomes an intermediate step, pointing us toward the next
SM, and hopefully revealing the underlying symmetries. We review the role that
the standard model effective field theory (SMEFT) could play in this context,
as a consistent, complete, and calculable generalization of the SM in the
absence of light new physics. We discuss the relationship of the SMEFT with the
existing kappa-framework for Higgs boson couplings characterization and the use
of pseudo-observables, that insulate experimental results from refinements due
to ever-improving calculations. The LHC context, as well as that of previous
and future accelerators and experiments, is also addressed.
