In the debate on governance in city regions, the role of the state is currently an open question. Drawing on our own and secondary research on governance of large city regions across the world, we argue that nation-states (in unitary systems) and federate states (in federalist systems) are crucial protagonists of governance in megacities-defined as city regions of 10 million or more. Megacity governance thus provides a stark contrast to the prominent narrative of a retreating state conveyed in some of the new regionalist literature. It is concluded that megacities are a category of urban settlements in which the state is not withering away but continues to play a leading role in addressing urban policy problems.